THE  HUMAN  NATURE 
OF  THE  SAINTS 


GEORGE  HODGES 


GIFT   OF 


THE   HUMAN   NATURE 
OF  THE  SAINTS 


CLASSBOOK  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY 

EVERYMAN'S  RELIGION 

CHRISTIANITY  BETWEEN  SUNDAYS 

THE  HERESY  OF  CAIN 

THE  BATTLES  OF  PEACE 

THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS 

THE  PATH  OF  LIFE 

IN  THIS  PRESENT  WORLD 

THE  YEAR  OF  GRACE  (2  Vols.) 


THE  CROSS  AND  PASSION 
FAITH  AND  SOCIAL  SERVICE 


The  Human  Nature 
of  The  Saints 


BY 


GEORGE   HODGES 

DEAN   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  THEOLOGICAL   SCHOOL 
CAMBRIDGE,    MASS. 


Wefo  f  orft 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1914 

•All  ri^his  ttserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1904, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Contents 

THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS  I 

SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS          .          .          .          .          .10 

THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN          .          .          .25 
THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW          .          .  37 

THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES  ....        49 

THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION       .          .          .61 
THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS          ....       79 

BLIND  BARTIM/EUS     ......       89 

THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP      .          .          .          .          .102 

THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS        .          .          .          .112 

THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN   .          .          .          .125 

THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN     .          .          .          .          .139 

THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE  .          .          .          .          .154 

AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS       .          .         .          .167 

THE  LORD'S  BROTHER         .          .          .          .          .179 

ONE  FROM  TEN         .          .          .          .          .          .192 

SAINTS  IN  SUMMER     ......      204 

THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED       .          .          .217 
THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION  ....     230 


iii 


COPYRIGHT,  1904, 
Bv  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Contents 

THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS  I 

SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS          .          .          .          .          .10 

THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN          .          .          .25 
THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW          .          .          .          •        37 
THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES  ....        49 

THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION       .          .          .61 
THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS          ....        79 

BLIND  BARTIM^US     ......        89 

THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP      .....      102 

THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS        .          .          .          .112 

THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN   .          .          .          .125 

THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN     .          .          .          .          .139 

THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE  .          .          .          .          .154 

AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS       .          .          .          .167 

THE  LORD'S  BROTHER         .          .          .          .          .179 

ONE  FROM  TEN         .          .          .          .          .          .192 

SAINTS  IN  SUMMER     ......      204 

THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED       .          .          .217 
THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION  .          .          .          .230 


iii 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PKOPHETS. 

Woe  nnto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  because 
ye  build  the  tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepul- 
chres of  the  righteous.—  Matt.  23  : 29. 

OUR  Lord  is  making  no  objection  either  to 
architecture  or  to  enthusiasm.  His  words  are 
not  to  be  taken  as  a  criticism  of  national 
monuments  or  even  of  cemeteries.  They  do 
not  interfere  with  Memorial  Day  or  with  the 
Fourth  of  July  or  with  the  festivals  of  the 
saints. 

What  our  Lord  does  object  to  is  the  hy- 
pocrisy which  makes  so  much  of  the  prophets 
after  they  are  dead,  while  it  abuses  the  prophets 
who  are  yet  alive.  Carved  stones  for  Elijah 
and  Elisha,  cobble  stones  for  John  and  Peter ; 
that  is  what  He  means.  "  Woe  unto  you, 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  because  ye 
build  the  tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish 
the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous,  and  say,  If 
we  had  been  in  the  days  of  our  fathers  we 
would  not  have  been  partakers  with  them  in 
the  blood  of  the  prophets.  Wherefore  ye  be 
witnesses  unto  yourselves  that  ye  are  the 
children  of  them  which  killed  the  prophets. 
1 


2         THE 'HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

And  ye  yourselves  are  filling  up  the  measure 
of  your  fathers." 

The  name  of  this  old  sin,  in  the  milder  form 
which  it  assumes  to-day,  is  detraction.  It  is 
now  aimed  not  against  the  life  of  the  prophet, 
but  against  his  reputation.  The  great  man 
comes,  and  divides  society  into  parties.  To 
those  who  are  not  of  his  party,  he  can  do  nothing 
good.  They  make  it  their  business  to  obstruct 
and  revile  him.  Every  word  and  deed  is  in- 
terpreted in  the  interests  of  partisan  prejudice. 
Even  his  intentions  are  accounted  base. 

"  I  am  often  amazed,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone, 
"at  the  construction  put  upon  my  acts  and 
words ;  but  experience  has  shown  me  that  they 
are  commonly  put  under  the  microscope,  and 
then  found  to  contain  all  manner  of  horrors, 
like  the  animalcules  in  Thames  water."  Some- 
body said  to  that  great  statesman  at  the  end 
of  his  life,  "  You  have  so  lived  and  wrought 
that  you  have  kept  the  soul  alive  in  England." 
His  noblest  contemporary,  after  he  was  dead, 
called  him  "a  great  Christian."  His  biog- 
grapher  closes  the  story  of  his  life  with  the 
words,  "  He  upheld  a  golden  lamp."  But  you 
know  very  well  how  he  was  persistently  ma- 
ligned. You  know  that  there  were  excellent 
people  who  could  not  say  anything  too  bad 
about  him. 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  3 

For  the  sin  of  detraction  is  eminently  the 
offense  of  excellent  people.  Our  Lord  was 
addressing  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Je- 
rusalem. Men  and  women  who  are  apparently 
possessed  of  all  the  virtues  will  be  so  affected 
by  the  person  of  a  prophet  who  prophesies  on 
the  other  side  that  they  will  lie  and  steal. 
They  will  eagerly  believe  lies  and  repeat  them 
to  steal  his  good  name.  Some  of  them  would 
like  to  kill  him. 

I  hope  that  we  may  have  the  grace,  so  far 
as  we  are  concerned,  to  contribute  to  a  public 
opinion  which  is  against  the  detraction  of 
public  men.  A  community  which  encourages 
school  children  to  honor  the  memory  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lincoln,  while  at  the  same  time  it 
encourages  politicians  to  defame  the  men  who 
at  this  hour  are  serving  the  state,  differs  not  at 
all  from  that  against  which  the  Lord  spoke 
in  the  text. 

What  I  have  in  mind,  however,  more  par- 
ticularly, is  the  detraction  of  the  religious, 
the  offense  of  the  slanderous  saints.  Here,  for 
example,  is  a  passage  from  the  life  of  Dr. 
Pusey :  "  During  this  time  he  was  an  object  of 
wide-spread,  deep,  fierce  suspicion.  Some 
heads  of  houses  would  not  speak  to  him  when 
they  met  him  in  the  street.  The  post  brought 
him,  day  by  day,  various  forms  of  insults  by 


4:        THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

letters,  signed  and  anonymous.  .  .  .  He 
once  said  that  that  sort  of  thing  took  more 
out  of  him  in  half  an  hour  than  ten  hours' 
work ;  and  his  frequent  collapses  of  health 
were  probably  rather  caused  by  heart  than  by 
head  strain."  The  people  who  wrote  to  Dr. 
Pusey  were  very  pious  persons.  They  said 
their  prayers  and  read  their  Bibles,  and  then 
wrote  their  letters. 

So  was  the  Kev.  Augustus  Toplady  a  pious 
person.  You  remember  that  he  was  the  author 
of  the  hymn  "  Rock  of  Ages."  He  declared 
that  John  Wesley  was  a  liar.  He  was  quite 
certain  of  it,  and  he  announced  the  fact  in 
public  with  a  loud  voice — yes,  with  a  joyful 
voice, — for  he  was  at  that  moment  engaged  in 
a  controversy  with  Wesley,  and  this  assertion 
of  Wesley's  mendacity  was  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  point.  It  was  a  good  point,  as  any- 
body can  see.  Mr.  Toplady  may  have  after- 
wards repented  :  I  know  not.  It  is  unlikely  : 
the  controversialist  rarely  repents.  Even  if  he 
does  repent,  the  thing  is  done,  the  good  man 
has  been  hit  over  the  heart  and  it  hurts,  and 
apologetic  words  afterwards  are  a  poor  oint- 
ment. 

The  author  of  "Kock  of  Ages"  was  an 
abusive  saint.  Like  Dr.  Pusey's  correspond- 
ents, he  was  filled  with  bitterness  and  wrath 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  5 

and  anger  and  clamor  and  evil-speaking, — and 
with  religion.  It  is  a  strange,  unholy  com- 
bination ;  but  it  exists. 

Enoch  walks  with  God,  as  the  old  record 
says.  There  he  goes  along  the  country  road, 
hand  in  hand  with  God.  And  there,  as  they 
two  walk  together,  Noah  and  Methuselah  and 
Shem  and  Ham  and  Japhet  hoot  after  them, 
and  throw  stones.  It  happens  every  day. 

It  comes,  I  suppose,  from  the  great  zeal 
which  men  have  for  the  truth,  or  for  their  con- 
ception of  the  truth.  They  are  afraid  that 
something  disastrous  will  be  done  to  the  truth. 
They  do  not  perceive  that  Enoch  is  walking 
with  God.  All  that  they  see  is  that  he  is 
going  in  another  direction  than  that  to- 
wards which  their  own  feet  are  pointed,  and 
they  have  a  queer  idea  that  if  they  shout  at 
him  and  stone  him,  he  will  turn  about  and 
walk  with  them !  Why  should  he  ?  It  is 
one  of  the  most  flagrant  and  foolish  of  errors. 

Perhaps  the  heart  of  the  matter  is  this :  that 
the  good,  who  know  by  their  own  experience 
how  hard  it  is  to  stay  good,  find  it  easy  to  be- 
lieve evil  of  the  good.  Anyhow,  they  do  it. 
They  believe  evil  and  speak  it.  And  it  is  a 
sin,  like  stealing.  It  is  one  of  the  sins  of  the 
saints. 

It  is  true  that  an  argument  in  favor  of 


6        THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

strong  language  may  be  drawn  from  this  very 
discourse  of  our  Lord  out  of  which  the  text 
is  taken.  "  Ye  serpents,"  He  says,  "  ye  gener- 
ation of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the  dam- 
nation of  hell  ?  "  It  is  not  absolutely  certain, 
however,  that  He  used  those  words.  St.  Luke 
reports  this  same  address  to  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  and  leaves  them  out.  He  agrees 
with  St.  Matthew  as  to  the  sentences  which 
precede  and  as  to  the  sentences  which  follow. 
This  particular  hard  sentence  is  omitted. 

But,  anyway,  even  if  He  did  assail  good 
churchmen  with  such  bitter  epithets,  the  ques- 
tion still  remains  as  to  the  tone  of  voice  in 
which  He  spoke.  Did  He  speak  in  anger  or  in 
sorrow  ?  Were  His  hands  clenched,  or  were 
they  held  out  in  warning,  in  deprecation,  in 
entreaty  ?  Was  He  pushing  the  pharisees  over 
the  brink  into  the  bottomless  pit,  or  was  He 
crying  out  in  sharp  distress  to  tell  them  the 
peril  in  which  they  stood?  That,  you  see, 
will  make  a  difference  in  our  understanding  of 
them.  They  must  be  interpreted  by  the  tones 
of  His  voice.  And  these  we  hear  in  the  words 
which  follow,  "  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou 
that  killest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them  that 
are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  7 

ye  would  not."  This  is  no  language  of  contro- 
versy, no  hurling  back  and  forth  of  the  hard 
names  that  hurt.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
holy  week,  and  He  who  speaks  stands  already 
in  the  shadow  of  death,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  cross.  Let  nobody  come  here  for  stones 
with  which  to  bruise  his  neighbor's  head. 

It  is  true  that  an  argument  in  favor  of 
detraction  may  be  found  in  the  necessity  to 
defend  the  truth.  Somebody  will  say,  What 
shall  we  do  ?  Shall  we  stand  quietly  by  and  let 
error  speak  without  contradiction  ?  Shall  we 
give  the  heretic  and  the  schismatic  the  whole 
field  ?  Shall  we  see  church  and  state,  town 
and  parish,  going  to  the  bad  and  let  them  go  ? 
Shall  we  surrender  ? 

No,  friend,  there  shall  be  no  surrender.  But 
let  us  choose  the  most  effective  weapon.  Let 
us  contend  for  truth  in  the  manner  which  shall 
best  maintain  the  truth.  When  Jesus  came, 
bringing  the  beatitudes  with  Him,  preaching 
the  gospel  of  gentleness  and  courtesy  and 
brotherly  love,  He  amazed  His  hearers.  In- 
deed, are  we  not  to  infer  from  the  account  of 
the  temptation  that  it  seemed  for  a  moment  to 
Himself  that  the  conquest  of  the  world  could 
hardly  be  attained  by  a  campaign  of  peace. 
Else  what  is  meant  by  that  conversation  with 
the  devil  on  the  top  of  the  mountain.  "  All 


8        THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

these  will  I  give  Thee,"  says  the  devil,  "  but  you 
must  take  possession  through  my  help."  To 
which  the  Lord  answers,  "  Get  thee  behind 
Me,  Satan." 

All  this  endeavor  to  protect  and  advance  the 
truth  and  the  right  by  violence,  by  compulsion, 
by  fierce  controversy,  by  detraction,  by  writing 
letters  which  make  the  hearts  of  good  men 
ache,  by  calling  the  saints  liars,  has  always 
and  everywhere  brought  about  the  defeat  of 
the  cause  for  which  the  contestant  has  thus 
contended.  The  Christian  man  who  has  fought 
with  the  devil's  weapons  has  but  cut  his  own 
hands. 

Persecution  has  always  turned  against  the 
persecutor.  Truth  makes  its  way  by  affirma- 
tion, not  by  negation.  It  is  accepted  by  those 
who  are  fairly  convinced  by  an  appeal  to 
reason.  And  that  appeal  is  assisted  by  sym- 
pathy, by  courtesy,  by  patience,  by  honest 
argument,  and  by  nothing  else.  Everything 
else  hinders, — detraction  most  of  all. 

Let  us,  then,  build  high  the  tombs  of  the  old 
prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the 
righteous  men  of  the  past  time.  But  let  us 
remember  that  our  own  age  has  its  own 
prophets,  and  that  the  righteous  are  still  with 
us.  The  best  defense  against  detraction  is  to 
cultivate  the  opposite  virtue  of  appreciation. 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  9 

The  best  way  to  get  out  of  a  bad  habit  of 
blame  is  to  get  as  quickly  as  we  can  into  a 
good  habit  of  praise.  Let  us  expect  goodness, 
and  a  high  purpose,  and  a  pure  motive,  and 
wisdom,  and  fine  achievement;  and  be  quick 
to  discover  them  in  public  and  in  private.  Let 
us  deny,  so  far  as  lies  in  us,  the  ingratitude  of 
republics.  When  we  differ  with  our  neighbors, 
as  differ  we  must  in  a  world  where  tempera- 
ments are  so  various  and  truth  so  vast,  let  us 
do  it  with  a  good  spirit,  without  jealousy,  and 
without  suspicion.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  no 
partisanship,  whether  political  or  ecclesiastical, 
shall  make  us  blind  to  our  neighbor's  virtues, 
or  dull  to  his  achievements.  If  the  book  pleases 
us,  let  us  write  to  the  author  and  say  so.  If 
the  thing  that  is  said  or  done  commends  itself 
to  us,  let  us  not  keep  our  appreciation  secret. 
Let  us  praise  our  contemporaries  without  re- 
luctance, and  not  wait  till  they  are  dead  and 
out  of  hearing.  So  shall  we  behave  ourselves 
as  Christian  citizens  and  churchmen,  and 
steadily  encourage  and  increase  the  goodness 
of  the  world. 


SAINTS  AND  STEIKERS. 

Can  two  walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed  ? — Amos 
3:3. 

THAT  depends  upon  their  character,  and 
upon  the  nature  of  their  disagreement. 

If  they  are  nervous  or  narrow-minded  per- 
sons they  cannot  walk  together  with  any  satis- 
faction, unless  they  walk  in  silence.  The  least 
difference  of  opinion  irritates  them,  because 
they  are  irritable.  A  man  who  has  good  eyes 
goes  about  in  the  blaze  of  the  sun,  and  enjoys 
it;  but  the  sun  hurts  the  man  who  has  sore 
eyes.  The  fault  is  in  the  eyes.  If  the  red- 
eyed  man  has  good  sense  he  keeps  out  of  the 
sun ;  and  if  nervous  and  narrow-minded  per- 
sons are  wise  enough  to  understand  themselves 
they  keep  out  of  discussion.  They  are  as  unfit 
for  it  as  a  lame  man  is  to  run  a  race. 

The  like  is  true  of  all  persons  who  are 
suspicious  of  the  soundness  of  their  own  argu- 
ments, or  of  the  excellence  of  their  own  cause. 
They  are  afraid ;  and  because  of  their  fear 
they  lose  control  of  themselves.  He  who  is 
sure  that  he  is  in  possession  of  the  truth ;  he 
who  knows  that  he  is  right,  and  that  being 
10 


SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS.  11 

right  all  the  forces  of  the  universe  are  on  his 
side;  can  afford  to  be  serene  and  patient. 
When  his  adversary  denies  that  two  and  two 
make  four,  he  does  not  get  excited.  He  does 
not  tremble  for  the  foundations  of  the  world 
of  mathematics.  He  remembers  the  philos- 
opher who  noticed  that  the  burning  of  a  little 
straw  would  for  the  moment  hide  the  shining 
of  the  everlasting  stars,  but  that  the  smoke 
always  drifted  away  without  doing  the  stars 
the  smallest  damage.  It  is  the  man  who  is 
maintaining  that  two  and  two  make  seven  who 
gets  excited ;  and  his  excitement  is  much  in- 
creased if  he  suspects  in  the  secrecy  of  his  in- 
most soul  that  the  true  answer  is  not  seven  but 
either  five  or  four.  He  cannot  walk  in  peace 
with  his  neighbor,  unless  he  avoids  the  subject 
of  addition. 

The  nature  of  the  disagreement  enters  also 
into  the  question.  If  the  difference  between 
the  two  is  slight,  or  relates  chiefly  to  details, 
then  they  will  walk  together  only  the  more 
pleasantly  by  reason  of  it.  Nothing  is  so  ob- 
structive to  all  rational  and  enjoyable  conver- 
sation as  complete  agreement.  They  who 
agree  entirely  have  nothing  to  say.  The  life 
of  society  is  in  its  interesting  divergencies  of 
opinion.  The  good  Lord  has  fortunately  made 
even  honest  people  very  different.  There  are 


12      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

as  many  minds  as  there  are  faces.  Some  peo- 
ple in  every  company  are  conservative,  others 
are  progressive.  Nobody  is  completely  right. 
So  we  go  on  arguing,  walking  together  and 
debating  as  we  walk,  to  our  constant  profit. 

Even  when  the  disagreement  is  deep  and 
serious,  and  one  is  right  according  to  all  prin- 
ciples of  goodness,  while  the  other  is  wrong 
according  to  all  principles  of  evil, — even  here 
we  may  not  lightly  permit  the  two  to  walk 
apart.  If  the  wise  walk  only  with  the  wise, 
what  will  become  of  the  fools  ?  If  the  good 
associate  only  with  the  good,  how  will  it  fare 
with  the  bad  ?  Will  they  not  grow  worse  ? 
If  they  who  have  the  truth  and  the  right  for- 
sake their  neighbors  who  are  in  error,  how 
shall  mistakes  be  corrected  ?  Is  it  not  the 
business  of  those  who  see  clearly  to  take  their 
blind  brothers  by  the  elbow,  and  by  walking 
with  them  keep  them  in  the  path  ?  All  dis- 
agreements are  magnified  and  perpetuated  by 
lack  of  acquaintance  among  those  who  hold 
different  opinions.  The  personal  element 
enters  into  all  our  social  problems,  and  counts 
greatly.  Prejudice  keeps  us  from  understand- 
ing one  another,  and  prejudice  grows  rank  in 
the  soil  of  ignorance.  Somebody  said,  "  I  hate 
that  man."  To  which  somebody  else  rejoined. 
"  How  can  you  hate  him  when  you  don't  know 


SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS.  13 

him  ?  "  And  the  answer  was,  "  How  could  I 
hate  him  if  I  did  know  him  ?  " 

So  we  come  back  to  the  question,  "  Can  two 
walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed  ?  "  And 
we  say,  "  Yes,  if  they  are  in  good  health  and 
spirits,  and  are  persons  of  some  sense ;  espe- 
cially if  their  disagreements  are  for  the  most 
part  on  the  surface,  while  they  are  in  substan- 
tial agreement  underneath.  Even  they  who 
are  very  seriously  out  of  accord  may  well  be 
advised  to  take  a  walk  together,  in  hope  of 
better  understanding." 

I  have  in  mind  the  relation  between  the 
churches  and  the  trade-unions.  There  is  much 
natural  misunderstanding  on  both  sides. 
There  are  obvious  disagreements.  The 
churches  and  the  unions  speak  in  quite  differ- 
ent dialects  of  the  English  language,  and  it  is 
not  easy  for  anybody  to  interpret  the  one  to 
the  other  fairly.  At  the  same  time  there  are 
fundamental  agreements.  In  a  true  sense  we 
all  mean  the  same  thing.  We  are  all  open,  as 
I  hope  to  show,  to  the  same  criticisms.  We 
are  learning  the  same  lessons.  We  are  all 
alike  in  being  sometimes  right  and  sometimes 
wrong.  The  history  of  the  unions  is  singu- 
larly near  to  the  history  of  the  churches.  To 
many  a  man  the  union  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
church.  The  union  is  his  church.  The  labor 


14      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

movement  is  his  religion ;  it  is  his  idea  of  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  two 
associations  have  many  of  the  same  virtues  and 
many  of  the  same  defects.  It  will  appear,  I 
think,  as  we  reflect  upon  the  matter,  that  we 
are  curiously  in  accord  in  regard  to  our  blun- 
ders. The  only  errors  of  the  union  concerning 
which  I  have  any  qualification  to  speak  are 
those  which  I  am  able  to  understand  because 
they  are  equally  the  errors  of  the  church. 
For  better  and  for  worse,  the  church  and  the 
union  stand  together. 

The  first  agreement  of  the  church  with  the 
union  is  in  the  fact  of  variety. 

People  sometimes  speak  of  the  union  as  if 
that  name  stood  for  a  single  type  of  the  or- 
ganization of  labor ;  but  the  truth  is  that  the 
unions  are  as  different  as  the  churches.  Some 
are  large,  and  some  are  small ;  some  are  old, 
and  some  are  young ;  some  are  orthodox,  and 
some  are  conservative.  There  are  unions 
which  are  disposed  to  go  into  politics ;  while 
there  are  others  which  oppose  such  an  associ- 
ation with  all  their  might.  So  it  is  in  regard 
to  socialism :  so  in  regard  to  industrial  peace 
and  war.  There  are  unions  which  have  a 
strike  every  few  weeks ;  there  are  other  unions 
which  have  not  had  a  strike  for  forty  years. 
Anybody  who  begins  to  talk  about  the  church 


SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS.  15 

may  properly  be  interrupted  after  the  first 
sentence  and  asked,  "  What  church  do  you 
mean  ?  are  you  discussing  the  Catholics  or  the 
Congregationalists  ?  do  you  refer  to  the  Pres- 
byterians or  to  the  Unitarians  ?  are  you  criti- 
cising the  Methodists  or  the  Mennonites?" 
Plainly,  there  are  differences.  So  there  are 
among  the  unions. 

The  church  and  the  union  are  alike  in  the 
reasonable  demand  to  be  judged  by  their  best 
rather  than  by  their  worst,  by  their  saints 
rather  than  by  their  sinners,  by  their  ideals 
rather  than  by  their  blunders.  They  ought  to 
be  estimated  by  their  official  statements,  not 
by  the  foolish  speeches  which  were  made  in 
the  debate.  They  are  represented  by  their 
representative  men,  not  by  their  heretics  or 
their  schismatics:  by  Bishop  Lawrence  and 
Bishop  Potter,  by  Mr.  Gompers  and  Mr. 
Mitchell.  There  are  all  sorts  of  churches  and 
unions,  but  the  only  fair  basis  of  praise  or 
blame  of  the  church  movement  or  of  the  union 
movement  is  that  which  rests  upon  such 
churches  and  unions  as  are  well  established 
after  long  experience. 

The  second  agreement  of  the  church  with 
the  union  is  in  the  fact  of  unity :  along  with 
all  this  variety  of  character  goes  a  unity  of 
purpose. 


16      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

This  purpose  is  held  in  common  by  all  good 
unions  and  by  all  good  churches.  It  is  the 
purpose  to  benefit  the  community.  It  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  phrase  of  our  common  Master 
when  He  said  that  He  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto  but  to  minister.  That  is  the  ideal 
of  us  all. 

It  is  true  that  the  churches  are  sometimes 
criticised  for  caring  less  for  earth  than  they  do 
for  paradise.  It  is  said  that  their  energies  are 
mainly  directed  towards  the  life  to  come,  and 
that  they  are  altogether  too  contented  with 
bad  conditions  in  the  life  which  now  is.  They 
want  to  go  to  heaven :  whereas  the  right  de- 
sire is  to  bring  heaven  down. 

It  is  true  that  the  unions  are  sometimes 
criticised  for  an  opposite  defect.  It  is  said 
that  the  life  of  the  spirit  has  no  meaning  for 
them.  That  what  they  are  exclusively  con- 
cerned about  is  present  and  material  prosper- 
ity. They  want  more  wages  and  less  hours, 
and  better  houses  and  a  fairer  share  of  com- 
fort. 

That  is,  the  churches  act  as  if  man  had  no 
body,  while  the  unions  act  as  if  he  had  no 
soul.  The  churches  treat  him  as  if  he  were 
an  angel ;  the  unions  treat  him  as  if  he  were 
an  animal.  It  is  hard  to  put  a  right  propor- 
tion of  interest  on  all  sides  of  life  at  the  same 


SAINTS  AND  STKIKEKS.  17 

time.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  the 
church  on  the  one  side  and  the  union  on  the 
other  have  omitted  matters  of  importance. 
We  have  not  done  so  with  intention.  We  are 
all  intent  alike  on  the  highest  welfare  of  the 
whole  man.  But  the  physician  has  his  proper 
work  in  dealing  with  the  flesh,  and  the  priest 
in  dealing  with  the  spirit.  The  union  and  the 
church  stand  in  a  like  relation.  A  man  ought 
to  belong  to  a  union  in  order  that  he  may  lift 
the  level  of  common  life  for  himself  and  for 
his  fellows.  Generally  speaking,  that  cannot 
be  done  in  any  other  way.  The  union  is  es- 
sential to  the  material  welfare  of  the  hand 
worker.  The  same  man  ought  also  to  belong 
to  a  church  in  order  that  he  may  develop  him- 
self on  the  spiritual  side,  keep  alive  in  his  soul 
the  consciousness  of  the  unseen  and  eternal,  and 
be  helped  to  meet  his  daily  temptations  and  to 
do  his  daily  duty.  The  church  and  the  union, 
like  the  priest  and  the  physician,  will  each  do 
better  service  by  coming  to  a  better  under- 
standing. 

To  this  criticism  which  the  church  and  the 
union  are  in  the  habit  of  making,  one  against 
the  other,  is  to  be  added  another  which  is 
often  made  by  outside  persons  against  them 
both.  When  we  maintain  that  our  supreme 
purpose  is  to  set  forward  the  welfare  of  the 


18      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

community,  they  reply  with  some  bitterness 
that  in  very  truth  neither  of  us,  neither  church 
nor  union,  cares  for  anything  except  our  own 
advantage.  What  we  really  want,  they  say,  is 
power  and  money,  and  our  own  good. 

That  is  at  the  heart  of  the  present  opposi- 
tion of  the  French  government  to  the  monas- 
teries and  the  church  schools.  These  religious 
folk,  they  cry,  do  not  care  for  France  :  all  that 
they  care  for  is  the  increase  of  their  order. 
If  they  were  believed  to  be  the  servants  of  the 
people,  honestly  devoting  themselves  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  to  the  general  good,  asking  for 
no  return,  they  would  be  blessed  rather  than 
cursed  by  all  their  neighbors. 

The  same  feeling  is  at  the  heart  of  the  pres- 
ent wide-spread  hatred  of  the  trade-union. 
People  look  upon  it  as  a  secret  society,  intent 
on  its  own  selfish  purposes,  and  wholly  regard- 
less of  the  public.  They  find  it  practically 
impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  monop- 
oly of  labor  and  the  monopoly  of  capital. 
Anyway,  it  is  a  monopoly  :  that  is,  it  is  an  en- 
deavor of  a  few  to  get  the  better  of  the  many. 

These,  of  course,  are  misjudgments.  They 
may  indeed  be  based  on  facts ;  there  are  sel- 
fish churches  and  there  are  selfish  unions  which 
deserve  all  the  hard  things  that  can  be  said 
against  them.  But  we  know,  who  view  these 


SAINTS  AND  STKIKEES.  19 

things  from  within,  that  the  church  and  the 
union  alike  are  actuated  by  a  great,  unselfish 
purpose  to  do  good.  We  are  all  working  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  for  the  advancement  of  all 
that  makes  for  common  justice,  and  righteous- 
ness and  peace  and  joy.  We  are  making  many 
blunders,  and  some  of  them  are  bad  ones ;  we 
are  beset  not  only  by  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation  but  by  the  weaknesses  of  our  own 
human  nature ;  we  are  abundantly  open  to 
criticism.  We  know  that.  But  through  all 
that  we  do,  even  through  our  folly,  runs  one 
high  purpose,  never  wholly  lost  to  sight, — the 
purpose  to  make  it  possible  for  every  human 
being  to  live  the  life  which  is  proper  to  a  child 
of  God. 

Among  many  agreements  between  the 
church  and  the  union  I  find  a  third  in  the 
fact  that  they  are  learning  the  same  lesson. 

The  problem  is  how  best  to  advance  our 
common  purpose.  We  all  know  by  experience 
that  this  is  a  most  difficult  undertaking.  The 
writer  of  the  Psalms  showed  a  good  working 
knowledge  of  human  nature  when  he  spoke  of 
the  man  who  "  hated  to  be  reformed."  Most 
men  hate  to  be  reformed.  Churches  and 
unions,  like  all  other  associations  for  improving 
the  community,  find  this  out.  But  men  who 
ought  to  be  reformed  must  somehow  be 


20 


THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 


brought  under  the  influences  of  reformation. 
The  question  is,  How  to  do  it. 

The  churches,  being  a  good  deal  older  than 
the  unions,  were  the  first  to  undertake  this 
hard  matter  :  and  they  have  certain  things  to 
say  about  it  as  the  result  of  experience.  The 
chief  conclusion  of  that  experience  is  this : 
that  no  good  cause  is  helped  by  compulsion. 
Men  are  brought  to  think  aright  and  to  act 
aright  by  being  convinced,  not  by  being  com- 
pelled. 

The  question  of  the  attitude  of  the  union 
towards  the  non-union  man  is  in  all  material 
respects  like  the  question  of  the  attitude  of 
the  church  towards  the  heretic  and  the  schis- 
matic. The  church,  like  the  union,  is  certain 
of  the  righteousness  of  its  own  cause.  It  be- 
lieves that  the  welfare  of  the  whole  commun- 
ity is  involved  in  the  Christian  organization. 
And  here  it  greatly  exceeds  the  union :  for 
while  the  union-man  claims  that  his  society  is 
necessary  to  the  salvation  of  the  laboring  class 
in  this  present  life,  the  churchman  asserts  that 
his  society  is  essential  to  the  salvation  of  all 
people  of  all  classes  both  in  this  world  and  the 
next.  No  unionist,  in  the  very  extremity  of 
his  enthusiasm,  has  ever  said  so  much  as  that. 

But  the  heretic  and  the  schismatic  weaken 
the  church.  They  attack  and  endanger  the 


SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS.  21 

glorious  cause.  They  bring  into  peril  the  im- 
mortal souls  of  men.  They  keep  back  the  ful- 
filment of  the  will  of  God.  I  am  trying  to  show 
the  union -man  that  the  churchman  is  able  to 
understand  how  he  feels  because  he  occupies 
the  same  position.  The  union  has  never  in  its 
moments  of  deepest  anger  spoken  of  the  scab  as 
the  church  has  spoken  of  the  heretic.  Did 
you  ever  read  the  major  excommunication? 
The  union  has  never  punished  the  man  who  is 
accused  of  stealing  his  neighbor's  job  as  the 
church  has  punished  the  man  who  is  accused 
of  destroying  his  neighbor's  soul.  Our  custom 
was  to  burn  such  persons  over  a  slow  fire. 

We  have  been  through  it  all,  from  the  least 
to  the  greatest  and  the  worst.  We  have  made 
use  of  the  strike  and  the  boycott  to  an  extent 
which  fills  whole  chapters  of  history.  We 
have  not  hesitated,  when  we  had  a  point  to 
gain  or  an  enemy  to  hurt,  to  lay  a  whole 
nation  under  an  interdict,  whereby  the  people 
were  deprived  of  the  necessaries  of  spiritual 
life.  When  Mary  was  the  Queen  of  England, 
you  remember  what  we  did.  We  got  a  law 
passed  that  nobody  except  an  official  of  our 
union  should  baptize,  or  confirm,  or  admin- 
ister the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  or  marry,  or 
even  bury  in  all  the  realm  under  pain  first 
of  fine,  then  of  imprisonment,  and  then  of 


22      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

death.  Cranmer,  Eidley  and  Latimer  were 
burned  at  the  stake  as  non-union  bishops.  You 
know  what  we  did  as  the  Amalgamated  As- 
sociation of  Congregationalists  and  Presby- 
terians. We  cut  off  the  head  of  a  non-union 
king.  You  remember  how  we  behaved  in 
Massachusetts  in  the  matter  of  the  open 
state.  There  is  no  difference  in  prin- 
ciple between  the  open  state  and  the 
open  shop.  The  question  was,  Shall  we 
permit  non-unionists  to  share  with  us  in  the 
government  ?  And  we  said  No.  Not  a  man 
shall  hold  a  public  office  or  even  cast  a  vote 
unless  he  is  a  member  of  the  church.  And  we 
whipped  the  non-union  Baptists  and  the  non- 
union Quakers,  beating  them  with  scourges 
through  the  streets  of  our  chief  cities. 

It  never  did  us  any  good.  It  never  brought 
our  cause  to  victory.  It  lead  straight  to  de- 
feat always.  We  have  tried  the  policy  of 
compulsion  to  the  uttermost,  and  we  assert 
as  the  total  result  of  our  experience  that  it  is 
a  policy  of  tragic  blunder.  We  tried  it  in  all 
honesty  of  purpose,  for  the  general  good,  with 
a  clear  conscience,  in  the  sight  of  God.  It 
seemed  to  us,  as  it  seems  to-day  to  many  a 
union,  that  it  was  the  only  thing  to  do.  How 
can  a  man  stand  by  in  silence  while  a  strike- 
breaker steals  the  bread  out  of  the  hands  of 


SAINTS  AND  STRIKERS. 

his  hungry  children  ?  How  can  a  man  be  pas- 
sive and  peaceable  while  a  heretic  is  poisoning 
the  wells  of  truth  ?  We  did  just  what  the 
union  does:  we  struck  the  heretic,  intending 
thereby  to  do  right  and  serve  heaven.  But 
we  have  to  say  that  every  such  blow  damaged 
our  own  cause,  and  helped  heresy. 

For  human  nature  works  that  way.  Insti- 
tutionalism  and  individualism  are  alike  or- 
dained of  God.  He  has  implanted  in  our  souls 
the  instinct  of  association  and  the  instinct  of 
independence.  They  are  both  sacred.  Both 
must  be  maintained.  And  in  this  nation  both 
will  be  maintained,  in  spite  of  all  possible  pro- 
tests of  the  unions  or  the  churches.  Men  must 
be  permitted  to  enter  with  all  freedom  into 
any  kind  of  legal  combination,  whether  we 
like  it  or  not.  And  men  must  be  permitted, 
if  they  choose,  to  stay  outside  all  combinations 
unmolested.  The  corporation  which  opposes 
the  organization  of  its  men,  and  the  union 
which  refuses  to  work  at  the  same  trade  with 
the  independent  workman,  have  each  of  them 
much  to  say  for  themselves,  but  after  all  is 
said  the  fact  remains  that  they  are  contending 
against  universal  and  eternal  laws  of  human 
nature.  And  it  is  like  contending  against  the 
law  of  gravitation. 

I  will  not  say  that  even  the  church  has 


24      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

learned  this  lesson  to  the  last  page,  and  got  it 
all  by  heart.  It  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of 
all  the  lessons  of  the  Book  of  Life.  God  for- 
bid, then,  that  the  church  should  criticise  the 
union  for  its  treatment  of  the  non-unionist,  in 
any  other  than  a  sympathetic  spirit.  It  is 
both  bad  and  vain,  and  we  are  bound  to  say 
so.  But  we  found  that  out  by  doing  the  same 
thing,  and  being  punished  for  it.  The  union 
is  following  in  the  steps  of  the  church.  It  is 
learning  the  same  lesson,  it  is  going  through 
the  same  experience,  it  will  reach  the  same 
conclusion. 

Here  we  stand,  the  union  and  the  church, 
servants  of  the  people.  We  agree  in  the  va- 
riety of  our  character,  in  the  unity  of  our  high 
purpose,  and  in  the  slow-learned  fact  that  that 
purpose  is  defeated  by  compulsion,  and  gained 
only  by  reason  and  sympathy  and  patience. 
God  bless  our  common  purpose.  God  help  us 
out  of  misunderstanding  and  suspicion  into 
such  cooperation  as  shall  bring  us  to  its  best 
attainment. 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEK 

Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judaea  in  the 
days  of  Herod  the  King,  behold  there  came  wise  men  from 
the  East  to  Jerusalem.— Matt.  2  : 1. 

THE  wise  men  showed  their  wisdom  by  the 
use  which  they  made  of  their  eyes,  their  feet 
and  their  hands. 

With  their  eyes,  they  saw  the  star.  But 
that  was  no  great  thing.  Anybody  with  eyes, 
who  looks  up  into  the  clear  sky  at  night,  can 
see  a  star.  All  the  neighbors  of  the  wise  men 
saw  the  star,  and  so  did  the  sheep  in  the  fields 
and  the  dogs  in  the  streets.  The  difference 
between  the  wise  men  and  their  neighbors 
was  that  while  the  neighbors  saw  the  star,  the 
wise  men  recognized  it. 

"The  star  was  so  beautiful,  large  and  clear, 

That  all  the  other  stars  of  the  sky 
Became  a  white  mist  in  the  atmosphere, 
And  by  this  they  knew  that  the  coming  was  near 
Of  the  Prince  foretold  in  the  prophecy." 

But  the  white  mist  appeared  only  to  the 
wise  men,  and  was  caused  by  the  intentness 
with  which  they  looked  at  the  new  star.  They 

25 


26      THE  HUMAN  NATUBE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

looked  at  it  with  all  their  eyes,  till  every  other 
sight  became  but  a  dim  blur  in  comparison. 
Other  people  of  that  town  were  a  good  deal 
interested.  They  watched  the  sky  night  after 
night,  and  pointed  out  the  new  star  to  their 
children.  But  the  nights  were  cold,  and  it 
was  rather  hard  to  distinguish  the  new  star 
from  the  crowd  of  old  ones,  and  presently  they 
ceased  to  look.  They  had  seen  only  that 
which  was  visible,— and  not  all  of  that, — the 
wise  men  had  seen  the  invisible.  That  was  the 
difference. 

Was  there  really  a  new  star?  Into  the 
mathematical  domains  over  which  the  astron- 
omers keep  guard  did  there  actually  enter  a 
new  light,  significant  of  an  event  on  earth, 
summoning  those  who  saw  and  understood  to 
the  cradle  side  of  a  new  King  ?  The  stars 
used  to  be  consulted  for  information.  There 
they  shone  like  jewels  in  the  ancient  ceiling  of 
the  sky,  kindled  by  God's  hand,  moved  here 
and  there  in  mystic  combinations  by  God's 
will,  no  doubt  spelling  out  great  truths,  the 
letters  of  divine  messages,  if  we  did  but  know 
enough  to  read  them.  So  men  thought,  as  we 
think  no  longer.  You  can  still  have  your 
horoscope  read,  and  learn  what  is  written 
about  you  in  the  firmament  of  heaven.  But 
the  customers  of  the  astrologers  are  no  longer 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  HEN.  27 

persons  of  good  health  and  sense.  All  that 
has  gone  by.  The  stars  enter  no  longer  into 
human  life.  Was  there  a  star  ?  Would  they 
have  seen  it  at  the  college  observatory  ?  And 
if  there  was,  as  Kepler  maintained,  did  it  have 
a  meaning  ? 

We  cannot  help  asking  these  questions.  They 
belong  to  the  temperament  of  the  time,  which 
inevitably  affects  us  all.  We  cannot  read  the 
story  with  the  quiet  acceptance  which  was 
given  to  it  by  our  fathers.  The  answers,  how- 
ever, whether  they  fall  on  one  side  or  on  the 
other,  are  not  of  great  importance.  The  visit 
of  the  wise  men  has  no  place  in  Christian  doc- 
trine. Nothing  depends  upon  it.  Only  let  us 
take  care  lest  we  treat  the  story  as  the  wise 
men's  neighbors  treated  the  star,  who  looked 
at  it,  and  were  puzzled  by  it,  and  saw  no 
meaning  in  it,  and  then  went  on  and  thought 
no  more  about  it.  Whether  or  not  it  has  the 
truth  of  statistics,  it  has  the  higher  truth  of 
poetry.  Whether  or  not  it  can  be  verified  in 
the  realm  of  geography,  it  is  blessedly  and 
eternally  true  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit.  The 
wise  men  saw  the  star.  Watchers  of  the  sky, 
and  thus  occupied  about  their  ordinary  busi- 
ness, God  addressed  them  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, met  them  on  their  own  ground,  spoke 
to  them  from  the  pages  of  their  own  books, 


28      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

even  as  He  came  afterwards  in  another  form 
to  men  who  were  occupied  with  their  nets. 
In  the  stars  to  the  astronomer,  in  the  boats  and 
the  nets  to  the  fisherman,  to  each  of  us  in  the 
opportunities  of  our  daily  tasks,  God  comes. 
He  still  comes,  and  still  speaks.  The  story  of 
the  wise  men  is  verified  in  our  own  experience. 
Living  as  we  do  in  an  environment  of  mystery, 
in  a  world  of  which  we  understand  but  a  very 
little,  let  us  treat  these  beautiful  stories  of  the 
beginnings  of  the  Perfect  Life  with  becoming 
humility.  Especially  let  us  see  to  it  that  no 
new  learning  be  allowed  to  rob  us  of  our  ap- 
preciation of  their  ideal  fitness,  or  to  make  us 
indifferent  to  their  spiritual  truth  or  to  their 
divine  message  to  our  souls. 

The  wise  men  saw  the  star,  and  because  they 
were  wise  the}7  knew  what  the  star  meant. 
They  saw  the  invisible.  The  secret  of  true 
sight  is  to  see  the  invisible.  To  a  dog,  or  a 
looking-glass,  or  a  camera,  a  page  of  print  is 
nothing  but  a  page  of  print,  so  many  inches 
this  way  and  that  of  black  lines  on  a  white 
ground.  To  a  wise  man,  it  is  a  message,  an 
instruction,  even  an  inspiration.  He  looks 
upon  it,  and  is  thereafter  different.  The  sight 
has  brought  a  new  thought  into  his  mind,  a 
new  motive  into  his  life.  The  dull  man,  look- 
ing over  his  shoulder,  makes  nothing  of  it. 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN.  29 

He  sees  only  the  visible :  a  wise  man  sees  the 
invisible. 

Jesus  went  about  dividing  men  into  com- 
panies of  the  wise  and  of  the  unwise.  The 
sight  of  His  face  was  like  the  sight  of  the 
Epiphany  star :  everybody  saw  Him,  a  few 
recognized  Him.  If  you  had  asked  the  few 
how  they  recognized  Him,  they  could  not  have 
given  any  adequate  answer.  They  were  like 
the  wise  men  who  if  they  had  been  asked  how 
they  knew  that  the  star  had  a  meaning  could 
not  have  answered  in  terms  of  astronomy. 
They  knew  it ;  that  was  all  there  was  about  it. 

Kecognition  belongs  to  the  regions  of 
mystery,  and  eludes  all  endeavor  to  define  it. 
The  man  who  comes  out  from  the  hearing  of 
great  music,  with  his  face  aflame  like  the  up- 
turned faces  of  the  Bethlehem  shepherds,  can- 
not explain  his  emotion.  He  cannot  convince 
the  doubter,  or  make  his  unappreciative  neigh- 
bor appreciate.  He  has  seen  the  star,  and  the 
star  has  brought  him  a  message  from  the 
Eternal.  If  the  star  has  brought  no  message 
for  his  neighbor,  it  must  be  that  his  neighbor 
does  not  understand  star  language.  There  is 
no  grammar  nor  dictionary  of  that  mystic 
speech.  The  knowledge  of  it  comes  by  nature, 
or  by  the  inspiration  of  God.  It  is  significant 
that  on  the  Damascus  road  Saul  heard  a  voice, 


30      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

while  his  companions  heard  only  a  sound.  It 
is  another  symbol  of  the  difference  between 
people,  whereby  one  sees  and  hears  while  those 
who  stand  about  are  deaf  and  blind. 

Having  thus  seen  the  star,  the  wise  men  fol- 
lowed it.  With  their  feet,  they  followed  the 
star.  This  was  the  natural  result  of  recogni- 
tion. He  who  has  looked  into  the  heart  of  a 
new  truth,  he  who  has  found  a  new  hero  or  a 
new  saint,  cannot  be  contented  to  sit  still.  He 
is  impelled  to  action.  He  must  do  something. 
What  shall  we  do  ?  cry  the  publicans  and  the 
soldiers,  after  John  the  Baptist's  sermon. 
What  shall  we  do?  demand  the  hearers  of 
the  apostles  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  asks  Saul  in 
the  moment  of  the  heavenly  vision.  The  wise 
men  have  this  instinctive  sense  of  service. 
Beholding  the  star,  it  seems  to  beckon  to 
them  ;  it  goes  on  across  the  sky ;  and  they  fol- 
low. They  must  follow.  All  vital  truth 
beckons  to  men,  summons  them,  calls  them  out 
of  quiet  and  content  to  follow  it.  Because  it 
is  vital  truth  it  has  to  do  with  life,  and  affects 
life,  making  it  different. 

Sometimes  the  call  of  truth  is  to  go  on  to 
the  discovery  of  more  truth.  The  man  is 
given  a  glimpse  which  fills  him  with  desire  for 
clearer  and  nearer  sight.  He  sees  the  star,  but 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN.  31 

that  does  not  satisfy  him :  he  would  seek  the 
source  of  the  star.  The  star  shines  not  for  its 
own  sake  but  as  an  evidence  of  another  light 
which  the  lover  of  light  must  find.  The  wise 
men  were  brethren  of  the  honorable  fraternity 
of  scholars.  The  news  of  the  coming  of  Christ 
which  had  been  brought  to  a  maiden  in  her 
chamber,  to  a  priest  before  the  altar,  and  to 
shepherds  tending  their  flocks,  comes  now  to 
men  of  reflection  and  study.  And  the  imme- 
diate result  of  it  in  their  case  is  to  make  them 
study  harder.  Out  they  go  upon  a  journey  of 
investigation.  To  the  revelation  which  God 
had  made  in  the  sky  they  would  add  another 
revelation  which  they  trusted  God  would 
make  within  reach  of  their  journeying  feet 
and  of  their  generous  hands.  Thus  the  Epiph- 
any is  the  Christian  festival  of  devout  scholars, 
and  its  meaning  is  that  God  is  pleased  to  lead 
the  scholar  from  truth  to  truth,  from  the  visi- 
ble to  the  invisible,  from  the  less  to  the 
greater,  from  the  imperfect  knowledge  of  to- 
day to  the  clearer  knowledge  of  to-morrow, 
from  a  light  in  the  night  sky  to  the  light  that 
never  was  on  land  or  sea. 

It  has  been  helpfully  noticed  that  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wise  men's  journey  is  a  symbol  of 
the  progress  of  the  student  not  only  from  truth 
to  truth  but  from  the  abstract  to  the  concrete. 


32     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

That  journey  lay  from  east  to  west,  and  be- 
tween the  east  and  the  west  there  is,  and 
always  has  been,  a  temperamental  difference. 
The  man  of  the  east  is  a  contemplative  per- 
son ;  the  man  of  the  west  is  an  active  person. 
The  Oriental  is  naturally  a  dreamer ;  much 
of  the  best  energy  of  the  east  has  gone  into 
a  philosophy  so  subtile  and  intricate  that  to 
the  west  it  means  nothing  intelligible.  The 
Occidental  is  naturally  a  worker ;  the  activities 
of  the  west  have  been  chiefly  exercised  in  the 
perfecting  of  machinery,  and  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  great  affairs  which  machinery  has 
made  possible.  Accordingly,  one  who  journeys 
out  of  the  east  into  the  west  passes  from  the 
region  of  ideals  into  the  region  of  realities. 
Truth  in  the  east  is  to  be  reflected  upon,  in  the 
west  it  is  to  be  applied.  The  east  is  the  land 
of  truth-for-truth's-sake ;  the  west  is  the  land 
of  truth-for-life's-sake. 

The  westward  journey  of  the  Epiphany  pil- 
grims finds  its  counterpart  in  the  work  of  the 
student  of  history  who  applies  his  studies  of 
the  past  to  the  interpretation  of  the  present ; 
or  of  the  student  of  science  who  increases  his 
knowledge  of  the  forces  of  nature  that  he  may 
thereby  increase  the  fund  of  human  happiness, 
and  make  the  world  a  pleasanter  place  to  live 
in ;  or  of  the  student  of  literature  whose  de- 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN.  33 

sire  is  to  make  his  treasures  a  universal  pos- 
session, getting  the  humblest  people  to  read  the 
greatest  books  ;  or  of  the  student  of  philosophy 
who  tries  to  make  the  thoughts  of  the  supreme 
minds  of  the  race  available  for  solving  the 
daily  problems  of  the  neighborhood :  or  of  the 
student  of  theology  who  would  make  theol- 
ogy religious,  so  that  the  doctrines  which  on 
the  one  hand  touch  the  heavens  shall  on  the 
other  hand  touch  the  earth,  and  be  the  means 
of  communication  between  the  two,  bringing 
heaven  down  and  lifting  men  up  to  meet  it, 
vitally  and  actually  influencing  and  determin- 
ing life. 

The  wisdom  of  the  wise  men,  thus  evidenced 
in  the  use  that  they  made  of  their  eyes  and  of 
their  feet,  was  further  shown  in  the  employ- 
ment of  their  hands.  They  came  with  gifts, 
with  gold  and  frankincense  and  myrrh. 

These  offerings  have  long  been  associated 
with  mystical  meanings. 

"  They  laid  their  offerings  at  His  feet : 
The  gold  was  their  tribute  to  a  king, 

The  frankincense,  with  its  odor  sweet, 

Was  for  the  Priest,  the  Paraclete, 
The  myrrh  for  the  body's  burying." 

Let  us,  indeed,  read  into  the  beautiful  story 
all  that  we  can  of  holy  significance.  He  who 
lay  in  the  cradle  beneath  the  star  at  the  end 


34     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

of  the  journey  was  worthy  of  all  that  they 
could  bring.  And,  no  doubt,  they  brought  the 
best  they  could,  the  best  fruits  of  their  own 
land.  After  all  is  said,  that  is  the  heart  of  it : 
they  brought  their  best  and  laid  it  at  His  feet, 
and  themselves  with  it. 

Let  us  not  blame  them  if  they  hesitate  a 
moment  at  the  top  of  the  street.  There  they 
are  with  their  camels  and  their  finery,  in  the 
grand  fashion  of  the  splendid  pictures,  kings 
seeking  a  king.  And  this  is  no  street  for  the 
dwelling  of  a  king, — this  back  street  set  about 
on  either  side  with  the  narrow  and  common- 
place houses  of  the  poor.  It  means  much 
that  they  went  on  and  in.  And  when  they 
were  in,  what  did  they  see  ?  A  peasant 
mother,  the  wife  of  a  country  carpenter,  and 
her  new-born  child.  Surely,  it  could  not  be 
for  this  that  the  star  had  shone  in  the  east :  it 
could  not  be  for  this  that  these  sages  had  left 
their  contemplations,  that  these  persons  of  im- 
portance had  journeyed  over  the  long  deserts. 
But  the  men  who  had  recognized  the  star, 
recognized  also  the  Lord  of  the  star.  Nothing 
else  in  the  story  so  declares  their  wisdom  as 
their  kneeling  down  before  this  little  speech- 
less child  and  offering  their  gifts.  The  star 
itself  was  not  so  wonderful  as  that. 

To  see  the  truth  beneath  the  surface,  to  per- 


THE  WISDOM  OF  THE  WISE  MEN.  35 

ceive  the  large  importance  of  small  things,  to 
discern  the  preciousness  of  the  commonplace, 
to  behold  with  wise  reverence  that  which  the 
man  in  the  street  passes  by  unheeding,  to  find 
God  in  the  unpromising  listeners  of  humanity 
— this  is  the  work  and  the  reward  of  the 
scholar. 

When  one  undertakes  a  common  task,  and  so 
performs  it  as  to  bring  out  its  divine  meanings, 
finding  its  relation  to  both  God  and  man,  he 
partakes  of  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  men.  He 
whom  they  sought  across  the  deserts  can  be 
found  in  anybody's  office,  or  study  or  sitting- 
room. 

When  one  enters  into  the  common  life,  re- 
solved to  live  it  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  bringing 
into  all  its  occupations,  even  the  homeliest,  the 
faithfulness,  the  thoroughness,  the  courtesy, 
the  consideration,  the  gentleness,  of  ideal  de- 
meanor, then  to  him  is  given,  in  answer  to  his 
gift,  the  blessing  of  the  wise  men,  and  under 
his  own  roof,  though  the  street  he  lives  in  be 
as  narrow  as  that  in  which  the  carpenter  and 
his  family  were  lodged,  the  Lord  Christ  shall 
appear  daily. 

When  one  puts  off  his  hat  within  the  door 
of  the  church, — though  it  be  the  plainest  of 
churches  with  the  simplest  of  congregations, — 
when  he  kneels  there  and  calls  upon  Him  who 


36      THE  HUMAN  NATTJBE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

has  promised  His  especial  benediction  in  the  as- 
sembly of  the  faithful,  he  bows  beside  the  wise 
men  of  the  Epiphany.  Like  them,  he  looks 
through  that  which  is  seen  to  that  which  is 
unseen,  and  perceives  the  presence  of  the 
Eternal. 

Into  that  presence,  recognized  and  realized, 
the  wise  man  brings  his  gifts, — the  best  that 
he  has  of  strength,  of  facility,  of  experience, 
of  material  means,  of  influence  among  his 
fellows, — and  in  the  silence,  kneeling  and 
praying,  he  holds  out  his  hands,  as  the  wise 
men  did  of  old,  and  offers  all,  all  that  he  has 
and  is,  to  the  supreme  master  of  his  soul. 


THE  PEOGKESS  OF  ANDKEW. 

One  of  the  two  which  heard  John  speak  and  followed  him, 
was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother. — John  1  :  43. 

EVEKYBODY  knew  Simon  Peter.  By  the 
time  this  history  was  written  he  had  become  a 
man  of  renown.  Wherever  the  Christian  re- 
ligion went,  the  fame  of  Simon  Peter  went  with 
it.  He  was  not  a  scholar,  nor  an  orator,  still 
less  was  he  a  genius,  like  St.  Paul :  his  letters 
show  that.  But  he  had  the  gift  of  leadership ; 
and  he  led,  as  the  leader  will.  For  the  true 
leader  depends  not  on  any  election  or  appoint- 
ment, he  leads  by  temperament,  by  instinct, 
because  he  cannot  help  it.  Thus  Simon  Peter, 
at  the  beginning  of  things  led ;  and  the  others 
followed.  And  everybody  knew  who  he  was. 

Andrew  was  Simon  Peter's  brother.  It  is 
plain  that  the  historian  felt  that  in  presenting 
Andrew  he  was  introducing  an  obscure  person 
of  whom  he  must  give  some  account.  So  he 
proceeded,  like  a  good  reasoner,  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  and  said  that  he  was 
his  brother's  brother. 

This  makes  Andrew  our  example.  For  the 
world  is  mostly  inhabited  by  obscure  persons ; 

37 


38     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  8AINT8. 

congregations  are  largely  composed  of  obscure 
persons.  Andrew  is  like  us.  He  is  our  brother, 
as  well  as  Simon  Peter's.  Most  of  us,  I  sup- 
pose, would  feel  some  constraint  in  the  com- 
pany of  Simon  Peter.  But  Andrew  we  could 
ask  to  dinner  without  ceremony :  and  let  the 
children  come  to  the  table.  And  that  night, 
after  he  had  gone,  we  would  say,  He  is  a  saint, 
and  yet  he  is  a  human  being  just  like  us.  And 
we  would  make  a  great  resolution  to  be  like 
him.  Andrew  was  a  plain,  human,  ordinary, 
approachable,  and  friendly  saint.  This  was 
the  man  who  heard  John  speak. 

He  heard  John  speak,  but  not  by  chance. 
The  words  came  with  dramatic  punctuality, 
just  as  the  hour  struck.  All  of  the  man's  past 
experience  culminated  in  that  supreme  moment, 
and  his  whole  future  was  determined  by  it. 

There  were  other  men  that  day  in  whose 
hearing  the  same  words  were  spoken,  but  who 
went  on,  paying  no  heed.  The  sentence  which 
changed  Andrew's  life  made  no  difference  in 
them,  left  no  impression  upon  them.  In  a 
little  while,  they  forgot  it  altogether ;  and  if 
that  night  they  looked  back  over  the  day, 
remembering  the  various  things  which  had 
happened  to  them,  of  one  sort  or  another,  good 
or  bad,  it  is  not  likely  that  these  words  were 
counted  in.  Breakfast  and  dinner  would  ap- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW.  39 

pear  as  events  of  some  importance,  leaving 
marks  in  the  memory,  but  the  sermon  which 
John  the  Baptist  preached  would  be  but  a  dim 
and  blurred  remembrance.  He  did  say  some- 
thing ;  and  he  certainly  did  look  very  queer  in 
that  absurd  skin  of  a  camel.  What  did  he  say  ? 
What  did  he  say  ?  And  so,  to  sleep.  But 
Andrew  lay  awake  all  night,  saying  the  words 
over  and  over  to  himself, — Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world ! 
Because  the  words  meant  to  Andrew  more 
than  they  meant  to  any  of  the  careless  crowd. 
Day  by  day  he  had  been  preparing  to  hear 
them.  All  his  past  life  had  led  up  to  them. 
They  were  interpreted  to  him  by  his  whole 
spiritual  experience. 

For  the  difference  between  different  people 
is  not  due  altogether  to  the  unequal  distri- 
bution of  opportunity.  Everybody  has  his 
opportunity.  Sometimes  a  man  comes  up  out 
of  the  most  unpromising  conditions  and  puts 
to  shame  a  whole  multitude  of  his  better  born 
and  better  bred  brethren,  and  casts  suspicion 
on  our  fine  theories  of  heredity  and  of  en- 
vironment. He  seemed  to  have  no  chance, 
and  yet  he  became  a  man  indeed,  a  hero  and  a 
benefactor  of  his  fellow  men ;  while  any  num- 
ber of  his  neighbors,  who  seemed  to  have  all 
things  on  their  side  and  in  their  favor,  failed 


4:0      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OP  THE  SAINTS. 

and  did  more  harm  than  good.  The  difference 
is  not  made  by  much  or  by  little  opportunity, 
but  by  the  recognition  or  the  lack  of  recog- 
nition of  it.  It  comes ;  and  one  is  blind  and 
deaf,  while  by  his  side  another  hears  and  sees. 
And  the  recognition  depends  on  past  experi- 
ence, on  the  character  which  has  been  con- 
structed day  by  day. 

Thus  there  are  books  which  have  altogether 
changed  men's  lives.  They  read  them,  and  the 
gates  of  a  new  world  opened  as  they  turned 
the  pages.  Other  readers  began  these  books 
at  tiie  first  page  and  read  them  patiently  to 
the  last  word,  and  made  marks  on  the  margin 
as  they  went  along,  and  then  put  them  away 
on  a  shelf  in  their  library,  and  forgot  all  about 
them.  Some  said  that  they  were  dull  books, 
and  hard  to  read.  But  to  a  few  they  were  the 
word  of  God  :  to  them  God  spoke  out  of  the 
printed  page,  and  they  heard  what  He  said, 
and  took  it  into  their  lives  and  lived  it.  This 
they  did  because  they  were  prepared  to  read. 
It  is  Andrew's  story  over  again. 

How  did  Andrew  do  it  ?  That  is  what  we 
want  to  know.  How  did  he  come  to  attend 
so  much  more  closely  than  other  men  to  the 
word  of  John  the  Baptist  ?  How  did  he  make 
his  way,  where  we  would  also  enter,  into  the 
presence  of  the  Master  of  the  Soul  ? 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW.  41 

Andrew  was  a  fisherman  who  thought  about 
something  besides  fish.  That  was  the  first 
stage  in  his  progress. 

The  fact  is  made  plain  by  his  attendance 
here,  at  the  Jordan  ferry,  so  many  miles  from 
home,  among  the  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist. 
It  does  not  imply  that  there  was  in  him  any 
lack  of  attention  to  business.  He  was  no 
dreamy  angler,  who  fished  against  his  will, 
without  much  luck,  watching  the  clouds  rather 
than  the  nets.  So  far  as  we  may  guess  at  him, 
from  the  brief  record,  he  appears  to  have  been 
among  the  more  enterprising  of  the  citizens  of 
the  fishing  town  in  which  he  lived.  He  did 
not  go  into  the  ministry  because  he  had  no 
head  for  business.  He  had  probably  come 
down  from  Galilee  to  the  cities  of  Judea,  with 
John  and  Peter,  on  a  business  errand,  to  sell 
the  catch.  For  such  a  mission,  a  man  would 
be  chosen  who  had  judgment  and  energy,  who 
knew  men  and  could  make  a  bargain.  Even 
thus  he  appears  as  more  than  a  mere  pursuer 
of  fish.  But  now,  we  may  conjecture,  the 
bartering  is  over,  and  according  to  the  quiet, 
slow  way  of  that  long-ago  time,  there  are  some 
days  to  spare,  and  down  goes  Andrew  from  the 
fish  stalls  to  hear  John  the  Baptist  preach. 
His  mind  was  not  altogether  given  over  to 
fish. 


42     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

That,  \ve  may  say,  was  the  beginning  of  the 
difference  between  Andrew  and  most  other 
men  of  his  occupation  and  acquaintance.  The 
streets  were  full  of  busy  folk  in  those  times, 
as  they  are  to-day,  who  were  intent  with  hands 
and  eyes  and  ears  and  minds  and  souls  upon 
their  daily  tasks.  They  were  absorbed  in 
business.  They  had  no  time  or  thought  for 
any  other  thing  in  life.  There  were  men 
whom  Andrew  knew,  any  number  of  them,  de- 
cent enough,  properly  behaved,  present  in  the 
synagogue  every  pleasant  Sabbath  day,  but 
who  did  almost  nothing  else  but  fish,  who  were 
not  really  interested  in  anything  but  fish.  In 
Boston,  under  the  dome  of  the  state-house, 
hangs  the  figure  of  a  fish,  a  symbol  of  the  in- 
dustry by  which  the  citizens  in  the  colonial 
times  made  themselves  rich.  It  is  to  Massa- 
chusetts what  the  golden  fleece  was  to  the 
Netherlands.  That  would  have  precisely 
suited  Keuben,  and  Simeon  and  Levi  and 
Judah,  and  most  of  the  other  men  whose  boats 
were  in  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  They  would  have 
hung  a  golden  fish  in  the  Capernaum  syna- 
gogue. 

If  they  ever  heard  it  said,  years  after,  that 
one  of  their  companions,  John,  the  son  of  Zebe- 
dee,  had  written  a  book  in  which  he  pictured 
heaven  as  a  place  in  which  there  was  no  more 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW.  43 

sea,  and  consequently  no  more  fish,  they  must 
have  received  the  assertion  with  amazement  or 
amusement.  Their  idea  of  beatific  happiness 
included  a  stout  boat,  and  a  strong  net,  and  a 
good  haul  of  fish. 

Other  men  were  equally  absorbed  in  other 
ways :  some  in  their  shops,  some  in  their 
books.  Down  went  their  eyes  towards  their 
bargains  or  their  parchments,  and  down  went 
their  minds  in  the  same  direction.  Human 
nature  was  not  greatly  different  from  that 
with  which  we  are  at  present  acquainted. 
Andrew,  too,  was  profoundly  interested  in  his 
daily  work,  as  every  honest  and  earnest  man 
should  be,  but  it  did  not  constitute  the  sum 
and  substance  of  his  life.  He  thought  of 
other  things  beside. 

That  was  the  first  stage  in  Andrew's  prog- 
ress. The  next  advance  he  made  was  in  the 
choice  of  his  friends. 

Andrew  found  a  few  like-minded  friends, 
most  of  them  fisherfolk,  like  himself.  There 
was  his  brother,  Simon  Peter,  and  their  part- 
ners, two  other  brothers,  James  and  John. 
Philip  was  their  neighbor.  And  Philip 
brought  into  the  little  group,  a  friend  of  his, 
Nathaniel.  These  six  young  men,  we  may 
guess,  had  known  each  other  since  they  were 
boys.  A  notable  group,  who  are  still  remem- 


44      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

bered  after  all  the  changing  centuries;  who 
made  up  an  exact  half  of  the  twelve  apostles, 
the  friends  of  Jesus :  this  was  the  company 
which  Andrew  kept. 

These  young  men  talked  together  every 
day  ;  sometimes,  no  doubt,  about  the  fish,  and 
the  weather,  and  their  neighbors,  as  human 
beings  will,  but  often,  it  is  plain,  about  the  su- 
preme matter,  about  those  high  subjects  which 
we  include  under  the  head  of  religion.  They 
had  much  confidential,  sympathetic,  religious 
talk  together.  When  such  young  fellows,  out 
on  the  water  fishing,  talk  with  their  associates 
of  the  eternal  realities,  and  discuss  them  with 
their  own  brothers,  we  may  be  sure  that  they 
mean  what  they  say,  and  are  in  earnest  about 
it.  For  it  is  easy  enough  to  talk  religion  in  a 
pulpit,  or  in  any  place  where  one  may  stand  up 
by  himself  and  make  a  set  speech  in  a  conven- 
tional voice.  Bat  in  common,  daily  conver- 
sation, where  we  must  speak  familiarly,  our 
actual  selves  appear.  Any  affectation  or  un- 
reality rings  false. 

These  were  Andrew's  friends,  these  alert 
young  business  men,  who  cared  as  he  did  not 
for  their  business  only  but  for  the  wide  world's 
business,  and  who  talked  of  things  worth  talk- 
ing about  while  they  waited  for  the  fish.  Thus 
they  helped  one  another ;  he  assisted  them,  and 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW.  45 

they  encouraged  him.  That  is  the  meaning 
and  the  purpose  of  all  society.  The  wise  man, 
who  looks  out  of  the  windows  of  his  office  or 
his  shop,  makes  friends  with  other  men  who 
like  to  work  by  a  window.  And  they  compare 
experiences,  one  having  seen  this,  and  another 
having  seen  that,  and  thus  each  man  looks  out 
of  many  windows,  and  sees  life  in  many 
aspects.  Thus  it  was  that  Jesus  promised  the 
blessing  of  His  special  presence  to  the  group 
rather  than  to  the  individual. 

The  beginning,  then,  of  Andrew's  progress 
was  in  the  largeness  of  his  interests ;  and  the 
next  step  was  in  the  helpfulness  of  his  friends. 
The  third  stage  was  in  the  fact  that  he  was 
not  contented. 

We  may  easily  read  between  the  lines  that 
these  young  men  were  deeply  dissatisfied  both 
with  the  prevailing  condition  of  the  church 
and  with  themselves.  For  by  and  by,  when 
Andrew  hears  John  speak  and  follows  Jesus, 
at  once  he  hastens  to  his  brother  Simon,  cry- 
ing :  "  We  have  found  Him ! "  And  with  the 
same  announcement,  in  precisely  the  same 
words,  Philip  greets  Nathaniel :  "  We  have 
found  Him ! "  Whom  have  they  found  ? 
Evidently  they  had  found  Him  for  whom  their 
hearts  had  longed,  about  whose  coming  they 
had  conversed  in  their  fraternal  conferences, 


46      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

at  the  meetings  of  that  primitive  brotherhood 
of  six,  out  of  which  came  the  Christian  church. 
They  had  found  at  last  the  knight,  the  sage, 
the  saint,  the  hero  of  their  dreams  :  the  leader, 
the  teacher,  the  reformer  of  all  that  was  mean 
and  unworthy  within  them  and  about  them, — 
the  Messiah  who  should  deliver  Israel,  and 
more  than  Israel.  They  were  in  search  of 
larger  truth,  had  their  hearts  and  minds  re- 
ceptively open,  wished  to  be  better  men  and  to 
please  God,  and  to  be  taught  how. 

Thus  they  took  all  that  the  synagogue  could 
give  them,  and  made  the  most  of  it.  And  out 
of  the  services  they  carried  home  great  sen- 
tences read  from  the  Word  of  God,  and  made 
new  sermons  about  them  :  better  sermons  than 
anybody  in  the  synagogue  could  preach,  be- 
cause they  were  their  own,  and  dealt  with  their 
own  difficulties,  their  own  short-comings,  and 
their  own  ideals. 

When  they  heard  that  there  was  a  new 
preacher,  standing  at  the  ford  of  the  Jordan, 
and  addressing  all  passengers,  no  matter  who 
they  were,  with  an  impartial  reminder  of  their 
sins,  they  went  to  hear  Him.  At  least,  An- 
drew went,  and  John.  This  they  did,  because 
it  was  consistent  with  their  daily  habit.  It 
was  the  kind  of  thing  which  they  were  always 
doing:  looking  for  more  truth,  listening  for 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANDREW.  47 

messages  from  heaven.  The  streets  and  mar- 
kets were  crowded  with  contented  people, 
looking  for  nothing  except  their  daily  bread. 
There  they  were  when  John  the  Baptist  began 
to  preach ;  and  there  they  were,  the  same  peo- 
ple, in  the  same  place,  when  he  stopped  preach- 
ing: still  as  a  stagnant  pond.  Not  a  word 
touched  them ;  the  great  winds  of  God  were 
blowing  out  of  all  the  clouds  ;  but  where  they 
were  the  air  never  so  much  as  stirred.  These 
were  the  people  whom  Andrew  left  behind 
when  he  went  to  hear  the  sermon  at  the  river. 

Then,  the  day  after,  as  Andrew  stood  in  the 
company  of  the  new  master,  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth passed  by,  and  Andrew  saw  Him.  John 
the  Baptist  pointed  Him  out:  Behold  the  lamb 
of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world!  So  there  He  was,  for  whom  Andrew 
had  been  looking  all  his  life.  Year  by  year 
he  had  been  making  himself  ready  for  that 
day  ;  he  had  been  preparing  himself  for  that 
opportunity ;  he  had  been  learning  to  recognize 
Christ  when  he  saw  Him.  Others  who  had 
come  out  with  him  heard  John  speak,  but  they 
did  not  understand.  Andrew  understood  and 
followed.  He  was  looking  for  the  best,  and 
he  found  the  best. 

You  see,  that  all  this  is  possible  for  us,  be- 
cause it  was  possible  for  him  :  it  was  within 


48      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

the  reach  of  a  person  like  ourselves.  We  can- 
not, indeed,  enter  as  he  did  into  the  visible 
presence  of  our  Lord  ;  but  we  can  find  Him 
just  as  truly,  we  can  be  just  as  sure  of  Him, 
we  can  be  blessed  with  the  same  blessing. 

Let  us  take  Andrew's  road.  Let  us  steadily 
maintain  an  interest  in  something  higher  than 
our  daily  business  ;  let  us  enrich  ourselves  with 
precious  friendships  ;  let  us  be  persistently  in- 
tent on  the  attainment  of  the  best,  reading 
the  best  books,  thinking  the  best  thoughts, 
following  the  best  light  we  have,  doing  our 
best.  So  shall  we  come  into  the  supreme  rev- 
elation :  we  shall  know  Him  whom  to  know 
is  strength  and  joy  and  life  eternal. 


THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIYES. 

And  in  hell  he  lift  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments. — Luke 
16:23. 

HE  has  no  name.  He  is  called  the  rich 
man ;  or,  as  it  stood  in  Latin,  Dives.  It  is 
the  beggar  who  is  named.  It  is  true  that  the 
rich  man  in  his  lack  of  a  name  resembles  most 
of  the  other  people  of  the  parables.  Our 
Lord  almost  never  named  the  characters  which 
He  introduced  into  these  illustrative  stories. 
But  He  did  name  the  beggar.  So  that  there 
is  here  presented  this  interesting  contrast: 
everybody  knows  the  names  of  rich  men,  few 
know  the  names  of  beggars  ;  but  there  was  a 
certain  rich  man  whose  name  is  not  mentioned, 
and  there  lay  at  his  gate,  in  dire  poverty  and 
pain,  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus. 

It  is  a  small  thing,  and  may  be  without 
meaning.  The  beggar  may  have  been  an 
actual  person,  whom  our  Lord  knew. 
Jesus  was  the  friend  of  the  residents  of  the 
street,  and  must  have  been  acquainted  with  a 
good  many  beggars.  The  beggar  may  have 
died  that  day,  in  his  rags  and  sores,  altogether 
a  pitiable  person  as  it  seemed ;  and  Jesus  may 

49 


50      THE  HITMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

have  meant  to  show  His  disciples  that  he  was 
a  spiritual  prince  in  disguise.  There  He  had 
sat  at  the  corner  of  the  street  who  was  in 
truth  fit  for  the  society  of  Abraham. 

Or  perhaps  this  distinction  of  a  name, 
denied  to  Dives  and  given  to  Lazarus,  signi- 
fies the  difference  between  Christ's  way  of  re- 
garding men  and  the  common  way.  It  is  an 
illustration  of  His  disregard  of  things  artificial, 
external  and  inconsequent.  A  friendless  beg- 
gar, covered  with  sores,  and  consorting  with 
street  dogs,  was  at  no  disadvantage  in  our 
Lord's  sight  compared  with  a  rich  man,  clad  in 
silk  attire,  sitting  at  the  head  of  his  handsome 
table.  If  the  beggar  were  rich  in  the  im- 
perishable treasure,  and  the  rich  man  were 
poor  in  the  currency  of  heaven,  that  made  a 
distinction  which  reversed  all  common  esti- 
mates. 

At  last,  to  Lazarus  on  the  curbstone,  and  to 
the  nameless  rich  man  in  his  palace,  came  the 
messenger  who  has  no  respect  of  persons: 
they  both  died.  The  beggar  died,  and  so  far 
as  this  earth  was  concerned,  that  was  the  end 
of  him.  The  rich  man,  when  he  died,  "  was 
buried  "  ;  that  is,  with  ceremony.  He  had  a 
stately  funeral.  So  they  slept,  the  rich  man 
and  the  beggar,  and  awoke  in  the  world  be- 
yond. But  there,  what  an  amazing  change. 


THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES.  51 

The  beggar  was  in  Abraham's  bosom.  There 
he  sat  among  the  saints  and  patriarchs, 
in  a  place  of  honor.  It  is  a  domestic  picture, 
quite  different  from  the  stately  visions  of 
Isaiah  and  St.  John,  with  their  smoke  of  in- 
cense, and  dim  forms  of  worshipers,  and 
cherubim  with  sheltering  wings,  and  in  the 
midst  One  high  and  lifted  up.  Or  shall  we  say 
that  this  is  a  glimpse  not  of  the  heaven  of  the 
church  triumphant  but  of  the  paradise  of  the 
church  expectant?  Anyhow,  the  beggar  is  a 
person  of  importance  in  that  company.  The 
table  is  spread  and  Abraham  and  Isaac 
and  Jacob  are  sitting  down  to  supper, 
and  there  is  the  beggar  in  Abraham's  bosom. 
The  phrase  is  to  be  understood  by  com- 
parison with  the  account  of  the  Last  Supper, 
where  the  apostle  whom  Jesus  loved  leaned 
on  His  breast.  That  is,  in  the  fashion 
of  that  day  and  place,  they  reclined  on  couches 
at  their  meals,  each  resting  on  his  left  arm  : 
first  the  host,  then  next  to  him,  leaning  on 
his  breast,  the  person  of  most  honor.  There 
was  the  beggar.  But  as  for  the  rich  man,  "  in 
hell  he  lift  up  his  eyes  being  in  torments." 
Over  the  way,  in  plain  sight  of  the  supper 
table  of  the  saints,  with  a  deep  cleft  between, 
burned  the  flames  of  the  pit  unquenchable. 
And  the  beggar  looked  that  way,  and  there 


52     THE  HITMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

was  Dives.     That  fine  gentleman,  that  hospi- 
table host  and  eminent  citizen — the  mendicant, 
who  asked  for  alms  beside  the  road  is  better 
off  than  he.     To  such  a  pass  has  come  that 
easy,  successful,  and  delightful  life. 

Was  it  because  the  man  was  rich?  Was 
that  the  offense  for  which  he  fell  into  this 
deep  misery  ? 

It  is  true  that  our  Lord  said  some  things 
about  the  rich  which  they  who  have  great  pos- 
sessions must  find  hard  reading.  It  is  said 
that  the  eye  of  the  needle  was  a  narrow  pas- 
sage between  rocks,  which  a  camel  could 
squeeze  through:  but  even  then,  the  illustra- 
tion is  not  a  reassuring  one.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
Jesus  chose  one  group  of  His  nearest  friends 
from  among  the  very  rich.  We  read  the  story 
of  Mary  and  Martha  in  the  light  of  our  New 
England  domestic  life,  and  they  appear  to 
be  maiden  ladies,  in  somewhat  straightened 
circumstances,  who  are  doing  their  own  house- 
work. But  the  incident  of  the  alabaster  box 
shows  them  in  quite  a  different  aspect.  Here 
is  one  who  would  bring  to  the  Master  some 
token  of  her  reverence  and  love.  In  her  room, 
among  the  curious  ornaments  upon  her  dress- 
ing-table, is  an  alabaster  box  of  very  precious 
ointment.  The  disciples,  whispering  among 


THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES.  53 

themselves,  and  guessing  at  its  value,  make  it 
out  to  be  worth  at  least  three  hundred  pence ; 
and  since  a  penny,  as  we  learn  elsewhere,  was 
a  fair  days'  wage,  that  would  represent  several 
hundred  dollars.  This  she  takes,  and  breaks 
it  at  His  feet.  It  is  plain  that  this  is  no  family 
of  narrow  means.  Mary  and  Martha,  very  near 
friends  of  Jesus,  were  as  rich  as  Dives.  It  is 
true  that  there  was  a  Lazarus,  who  was  a  beg- 
gar in  the  street ;  but  there  was  also  a  Lazarus 
who  was  a  man  of  wealth.  He  was  rich  like 
Dives,  and  was  a  friend  of  Jesus. 

There  is  spiritual  danger  connected  with  the 
possession  of  wealth.  The  Bible  has  great 
fears  about  men  who  have  large  means;  but 
they  are  like  the  fears  of  the  insurance  com- 
panies about  men  who  work  in  powder  mills. 
The  insurance  companies  have  no  personal  dis- 
like to  these  men.  They  do  not  by  any  means 
assert  that  such  men  will  certainly  be  blown  to 
pieces.  But  they  know  that  a  powder  mill  did 
explode  the  other  day,  and  that  other  powder 
mills  have  exploded  before,  and  they  decline  to 
take  the  risk. 

The  rich  man  is  in  spiritual  danger  because 
it  is  so  easy  and  natural  for  him  to  be  wholly 
occupied  with  things  temporal  and  material. 
Where  his  treasure  is,  there  will  his  heart  be 
also.  His  thought  and  life  will  be  filled  with 


54:      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

the  consideration  of  that  which  can  be  seen 
and  felt  and  weighed  and  measured  and 
counted.  No  man  makes  a  great  deal  of 
money  without  giving  his  mind  to  it.  And  it 
is  plainly  possible  to  give  one's  mind  so  lav- 
ishly and  unreservedly  to  this  business  that 
there  is  no  interest  or  attention  left  for  any- 
thing else.  Indeed,  to  one  who  is  entirely 
occupied  with  these  matters,  the  enthusiasms, 
enjoyments,  and  purposes  of  religion  must  in 
the  nature  of  things  seem  rather  vague,  and 
hard  to  understand.  He  is  concerned  with  the 
present  and  the  practical.  When  he  is  invited, 
like  the  man  in  the  other  parable,  to  a  great 
supper  which  is  the  type  of  spiritual  privilege, 
he  says  at  once,  "I  have  bought  a  piece  of 
ground,  and  I  must  needs  go  and  see  it :  I 
pray  thee,  have  me  excused "  ;  or  "I  have 
bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove 
them :  I  pray  thee,  have  me  excused."  That 
is,  the  man  of  wealth, — who  has  got  it  and  so 
is  a  rich  man  actually,  or  who  is  trying  to  get  it 
and  so  is  a  rich  man  potentially — is  in  danger 
of  caring  for  nothing  else.  That  is  the  tempta- 
tion :  and  the  more  money  a  man  has  the  better 
he  knows  how  strong  the  temptation  is. 

But  no  man  will  lose  his  soul  because  he  has 
a  great  deal  of  money.  The  day  of  judgment 
will  not  be  a  time  for  the  examination  of  men's 


THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES.  55 

bank  accounts.  There  is  no  wickedness  in  be- 
ing wealthy.  Some  people  talk  as  if  prosper- 
ity ought  to  be  punished,  and  as  if  everybody 
ought  to  sell  whatever  he  possesses  and  make 
it  over  to  the  poor.  It  is  true  that  the  Master 
did  set  that  duty  at  one  man's  door :  no  doubt, 
because  He  saw  that  that  was  exactly  what 
that  particular  young  man  needed  for  his  soul's 
health.  But  He  preached  no  such  doctrine  to 
other  rich  men  whom  he  met.  The  damnation 
of  Dives  was  not  a  punishment  for  being  rich. 

What  then?  He  had  always  had  a  good 
time, — was  that  it?  Was  it  there  that  he 
made  his  failure? 

The  pleasures  of  the  rich  man  are  recounted 
in  the  parable.  He  wore  good  clothes,  attiring 
himself  in  the  handsome  and  fashionable  pur- 
ple and  fine  linen  of  his  time.  He  fared 
sumptuously,  giving  and  receiving  banquets: 
and  living  in  luxury  every  day. 

And  it  is  plain  that  there  is  spiritual  danger  in 
such  a  life  as  this.  It  is  not  only  the  pursuit  of 
wealth  but  the  enjoyment  of  it  which  menaces 
the  soul.  This  is  written  large  in  history, 
where  again  and  again  in  the  experience  of 
races,  of  churches,  and  of  institutions,  increase 
of  pleasure  has  been  accompanied  by  decrease 
of  piety.  They  have  been  given  their  desire, 
as  it  says  in  the  psalm,  and  leanness  withal  has 


56      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

entered  into  their  soul.  So  it  has  been  with 
nations,  which  have  become  rich,  and  have  en- 
tered into  the  joys  which  wealth  makes  possi- 
ble, and  then  have  fallen  before  some  simpler 
people,  who  are  strong  with  the  sturdy 
strength  of  plain  living.  So  it  has  been  with 
monasteries,  which  have  begun  in  the  fear  of 
God  and  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  in  holy 
poverty,  and  then  becoming  rich  with  the 
gifts  of  their  grateful  neighbors,  have  grown 
idle  and  negligent,  eating  and  drinking  more 
and  praying  less,  till  they  have  come  to  be  a 
shame  and  a  scandal.  And  the  same  tempta- 
tions assail  all  prosperous  persons.  They  who 
are  contented  with  their  surroundings  are 
easily  contented  with  themselves,  and  that  is 
the  end  of  spiritual  growth.  It  was  with 
knowledge  of  human  nature  that  the  petition 
was  put  in  the  litany,  "  In  all  time  of  our  pros- 
perity, good  Lord,  deliver  us."  Indeed,  if  we 
look  for  disregard  of  religion,  for  lives  lived 
without  much  thought  of  God,  for  days  begun 
without  prayer  and  weeks  begun  without 
praise,  for  devotion  to  that  which  is  temporal 
and  neglect  of  that  which  is  eternal,  we  will  find 
too  much  of  it  among  those  to  whom  God  has 
given  unusual  privileges  and  set  them  in  the 
midst  of  pleasures. 

But  to  be  happy  is  no  sin.     God  has  put  us 


THE  DAMNATION  OP  DIVES.  57 

in  this  world  that  we  may  live  this  life.  It  is 
His  will  that  we  take  from  His  generous 
hand  all  the  good  pleasure  that  there  is :  this 
world's  pleasure  now,  and  the  next  world's 
pleasure  when  we  come  to  it.  All  happiness 
of  soul  and  mind  and  sense  to-day,  and  all  new 
happiness  which  awaits  us  under  new  condi- 
tions to-morrow.  There  is  no  merit  in  being 
miserable.  There  is  no  contradiction  between 
a  smiling  face  and  the  sermon  on  the  mount. 
The  Christian  religion  sanctions  and  approves 
of  every  good  natural  pleasure  which  has  ever 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man.  No  doubt  but 
the  rich  man's  life  was  merry  and  joyful.  But 
that  was  not  what  was  the  matter  with  him. 
The  damnation  of  Dives  was  not  a  punishment 
for  having  lived  a  pleasant  life. 

Why  was  it,  then,  that  in  hell  he  lift  up 
his  eyes  being  in  torments?  He  was  a  rich 
man :  but  that  was  not  it.  He  was  clothed  in 
purple  and  fine  linen  and  fared  sumptuously 
every  day  :  but  that  was  not  it.  Why  did  he 
lose  his  soul  ?  Dives  lost  his  soul  because, 
being  rich  and  happy,  he  had  been  satisfied 
with  that.  He  had  found  the  material  side  of 
life  so  pleasant  that  he  had  been  content  to 
live  simply  on  that  plane.  He  had  encoun- 
tered the  perils  of  prosperity,  and  had  suffered 
spiritual  defeat. 


58      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

When  he  asks  that  Lazarus  may  be  sent 
over  with  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his  tongue, 
he  is  answered,  "  Son,  remember  that  thou  in 
thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good  things,  and 
likewise  Lazarus  evil  things :  but  now  he  is 
comforted  and  thou  art  tormented."  That 
seems  for  a  moment  to  mean  that  there  is  for 
each  of  us  a  fixed  amount  of  good  and  evil 
fortune,  and  that  if  we  have  pleasure  and  pros- 
perity here,  we  must  not  look  for  pleasure  and 
prosperity  hereafter.  But  there  is  plainly 
some  mistake  about  that.  Our  Lord  did  not 
mean  that.  That  is  not  His  doctrine  of  the 
providence  of  God.  That  is  not  His  interpre- 
tation of  the  fatherhood  of  God. 

No ;  the  words  are  to  be  understood  like 
the  sentence  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
"  They  have  their  reward."  The  men  who 
give  alms  or  say  prayers  in  order  to  be  seen 
of  men  have  their  reward,  such  as  it  is.  The 
people  who  devote  themselves  entirely  to  the 
material  satisfactions  of  life  receive  their  good 
things.  They  enjoy  the  blessings  of  the 
senses.  Dives  had  received  his  good  things. 
He  had  decided,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
that  what  he  supremely  desired  was  to  succeed 
in  business  and  to  have  a  good  time  in  society. 
That  is  what  he  desired,  and  he  got  it.  He 
makes  his  confession  in  his  prayer  for  his  five 


THE  DAMNATION  OF  DIVES.  59 

brothers.  There  they  are  living  the  same  kind 
of  life  which  he  had  lived,  and  coming  inevi- 
tably, if  they  keep  on,  to  the  same  place.  They 
are  receiving  their  good  things.  And  their 
good  things  are  of  the  sort  to  which  death  puts 
an  end.  Presently  they  will  die,  and  at  that 
moment  everything  that  they  possess  will 
perish :  because  everything  that  they  possess 
is  perishable.  There  they  go,  briskly  and 
gayly  walking  towards  the  brink  of  the  place 
of  torment.  And  there  are  Moses  and  the 
prophets  standing  by  the  side  of  the  road  and 
telling  them  plainly,  but  in  vain,  where  the 
road  ends.  That  is,  there  is  the  church  and 
the  ministers  of  religion  teaching  day  by  day 
that  he  who  seeks  the  pleasures  of  the  senses 
only,  shall  have  the  pleasures  of  the  senses  only, 
and  after  that  the  judgment.  The  rich  man 
had  heard  their  sermons  in  a  dull,  conventional, 
confused  way,  with  his  eyes  shut :  but  they 
had  meant  nothing  to  him.  Moses  and  the 
prophets  had  been  no  more  to  him  than  the 
saints  of  the  painted  windows. 

That  is,  the  life  which  ended  in  this  total 
failure  had  been  a  life  of  the  body  only.  That 
was  the  cause  of  the  damnation  of  Dives.  The 
man  had  lost  his  soul  because  he  had  never 
taken  the  slightest  pains  to  save  his  soul.  He 
had  no  place  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 


60      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OP  THE  SAINTS. 

Jacob  because  he  had  never  taken  the  least 
interest  in  the  things  that  patriarchs  and 
prophets,  and  men  of  God  care  for.  He  was 
no  more  fitted  for  that  excellent  company  than 
a  tramp  on  a  freight-car  would  be  fitted  for  a 
lecture  in  philosophy.  He  had  addressed  him- 
self wholly  to  that  which  gratifies  the  senses. 
To  the  higher  part  of  his  nature,  to  that  which 
survives  the  body  and  is  everlasting,  he  had 
paid  no  heed.  And  he  went  to  his  own  place, 
as  they  said  of  Judas.  That  is  what  happened 
to  him.  He  went  to  his  own  place,  where  he 
properly  belonged,  as  we  all  will. 

It  is  an  illustration  of  the  great  saying: 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap.  Dives  had  sown  to  the  flesh  and  of  the 
flesh  had  reaped  corruption.  Lazarus  had 
sown  to  the  spirit,  and  of  the  spirit  had  reaped 
life  everlasting. 


THE  EEALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION. 

And  immediately  the  Spirit  driveth  him  into  the  wilder- 
ness.— Mark  1 : 12. 

OUE  Lord  went  into  the  wilderness  in  order 
to  be  alone  to  think. 

He  had  come  from  Nazareth  to  the  bank  of 
the  Jordan  to  hear  a  new  prophet  preach. 
Hundreds  of  others  had  come  upon  the  same 
errand.  The  crowd  was  great,  and  He  was  an 
unnoticed  member  of  it.  Even  when  John 
the  Baptist  said,  "  There  standeth  One  among 
you  whom  ye  know  not,"  nobody  looked  at 
Him.  It  is  not  likely  that  He  Himself  real- 
ized that  the  words  meant  Him.  He  looked 
about,  like  His  neighbors,  wondering  who  the 
Great  Unknown  might  be.  It  is  true  that 
when  the  prophet  presently  addressed  Him,  He 
met  the  marvelous  announcement  with  entire 
composure.  "  Suffer  it,"  He  said,  "  to  be  so 
now."  But  the  event  of  the  temptation  seems 
to  show  that  He  was  taken  by  surprise.  If 
He  had  come  prepared  for  this,  expecting  this, 
there  would  have  been  no  need  of  the  wilder- 
ness. The  story  would  have  gone  on,  as  in- 
deed it  does  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  without  a 

61 


62      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

break  :  after  the  baptism,  not  the  temptation, 
but  at  once  the  ministry. 

Out  of  the  Galilean  hills  He  had  come  down, 
this  carpenter  of  Nazareth,  being  now  thirty 
years  of  age, — a  maker  of  doors,  who  was  Him- 
self to  be  the  door  of  life  eternal ;  a  framer  of 
windows,  who  was  to  open  the  windows  of 
heaven  for  revelation  and  for  benediction ;  a 
builder  of  houses,  who  was  to  prepare  man- 
sions in  the  celestial  country.  And  as  He 
stood,  in  all  humility,  amongst  the  throng, 
John  had  singled  Him  out.  That  great 
prophet,  that  new  Elijah,  to  whose  preaching 
even  the  Pharisees  were  for  the  moment 
giving  their  attention,  had  suddenly  stopped 
in  his  sermon  at  the  sight  of  this  working  man 
from  Galilee,  and  had  pronounced  Him  his  spir- 
itual superior:  "This  is  He  of  whom  I  spoke: 
this  is  He  of  whom  I  said  that  ye  knew  Him 
not,  and  whom  I  knew  not  till  the  light  in  the 
sky  and  in  His  face  revealed  Him  :  this  is  He 
whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  stoop  down 
and  unloose."  And  from  above  had  come  a 
vision  and  a  voice,  verifying  it  all. 

"  And  immediately," — for  here  is  where  the 
note  of  time  is  touched, — "  the  Spirit  driveth 
Eim  into  the  wilderness."  The  Spirit  spoke 
in  the  silence  of  His  soul.  He  was  conscious 
of  an  inner  compulsion.  He  heard  an  in- 


THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       63 

audible  but  none  the  less  imperative  voice, 
saying,  "  Go,  get  you  away  into  the  wilder- 
ness "  ;  and  He  obeyed,  and  went.  That  was 
what  followed  the  strange  utterance  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  the  strange  sense  of  recog- 
nition with  which  Jesus  met  it.  He  went 
into  the  wilderness  to  think. 

The  gospel  records  and  our  own  reflections 
assure  us  that  Jesus  must  have  learned  who 
He  was,  little  by  little.  The  statement  that 
He  increased  in  wisdom  is  a  certificate  of  that. 
And  the  fact  that  unless  He  had  increased  in 
wisdom  He  would  have  been  no  true  human 
man  emphasizes  it.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  is  not  a 
doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  only.  Men 
have  held  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ  with  all  ardor  and  adoration,  who  have 
nevertheless  been  pronounced  heretics  by  gen- 
eral councils  of  the  church  because  they  have 
omitted  or  obscured  the  truth  of  His  hu- 
manity. They  have  made  it  out  that  being 
God,  He  was  somehow  other  than  a  human 
man.  The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  asserts 
the  divinity  and  the  humanity  of  Christ  at  the 
same  time.  It  is  essential  to  it  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  truly  man.  He  could  not  have 
been  truly  man  if  as  He  sat  among  the  boys 
in  the  schoolroom  at  Nazareth,  He  had  been 


64     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

composing  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  He 
could  not  have  been  truly  man,  if  He  had 
known  at  the  beginning  what  He  knew  at  the 
end  of  His  ministry.  He  increased  in  wisdom, 
day  by  day  learning  more  about  the  world  in 
which  He  lived,  more  about  the  humanity  of 
which  He  had  become  a  part,  more  about  God 
in  whose  favor  He  grew  continually,  more 
about  Himself. 

And  now  to-day  beside  the  Jordan  are 
strange  voices  saying  strange  things.  And 
there  is  a  strange  new  consciousness  in  His 
own  heart,  a  consciousness  of  power,  of  per- 
sonality, of  possibility,  such  as  He  has  never 
had  before.  Long  ago  among  the  hills,  look- 
ing out  over  the  green  plain,  He  had  had  long 
thoughts,  as  a  boy  will,  but  they  had  been  the 
thoughts  of  a  boy.  Working  in  His  shop, 
among  the  shavings,  breathing  the  clean  sweet 
odor  of  the  wood,  He  had  seen  visions,  the 
visions  of  a  vigorous  young  manhood.  But 
this  which  fills  His  mind  and  heart  to-day  is  a 
new  thing.  The  moment  is  one  of  crisis.  A 
great,  new,  marvelous  truth  has  entered  into 
His  life.  And  He  is  saying  over  and  over 
to  Himself,  again  and  again,  trying  to  under- 
stand it  in  the  fulness  of  its  infinite  meaning, 
"  I  am  the  Messiah  !  I  am  the  Christ !  I  am 
He  for  whom  society  has  all  along  been  look- 


THE  EEALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       65 

ing  and  waiting  !  I  am  come  in  answer  to  the 
praters  of  the  ages  !  I  am  the  servant  of  the 
Highest,  the  ambassador  of  heaven,  the  Son  of 
God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world ! " 

It  is  plain  that  a  man  cannot  go  about  the 
streets  saying  such  words.  It  is  plain  that  he 
cannot  go  back  to  his  day's  work  for  his  day's 
wages,  making  carts  and  mending  roofs.  The 
great  message  has  set  a  sharp  separation  be- 
tween this  day  and  all  the  other  past  days. 
What  shall  He  do  ?  He  must  get  away.  He 
must  seek  solitude ;  He  must  find  a  place  where 
He  can  think  and  pray  and  plan.  He  must 
adjust  Himself  to  a  new  life.  The  summons  of 
the  spirit  is  very  urgent, — of  His  own  spirit, 
and  of  God's  spirit.  He  is  immediately  driven 
into  the  wilderness. 

And  then,  what  happens  ?  He  is  tempted. 
And  tempted  to  do  what  ?  To  turn  stones  into 
bread,  to  cast  Himself  from  a  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  and  to  kneel  down  before  the  devil. 
What  does  it  mean  ?  Where  is  the  connection 
between  the  desert  and  the  river,  between  the 
temptation  and  the  baptism,  between  these 
very  different  voices, — one  from  above  saying, 
"  This  is  My  beloved  Son,"  the  other  from  be- 
neath saying,  "If  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God" 
do  this  and  that  ?  The  two  belong  together, 
like  the  light  and  the  shadow.  Our  Lord  is 


66      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

entering  here  into  a  universal  human  experi- 
ence. This  is  the  common  spiritual  sequence. 
First,  the  high  ideal,  recognized  and  resolved 
upon:  the  new  life  entered:  the  supreme 
choice  definitely  made.  Then  depression, 
doubt,  discouragement,  asking  of  anxious  ques- 
tions. 

Elijah,  for  example,  confronts  the  priests  of 
Baal.  In  a  land  forgetful  of  God,  indifferent 
to  Him,  defiant  of  Him,  he  stands  up  suddenly 
alone,  splendidly  bold,  on  God's  side.  Then 
he  goes  away,  and  hides  himself  in  a  desolate 
wilderness,  and  cries  aloud  to  the  rocks  and 
the  sky  that  his  life  is  a  miserable  failure. 
There  they  are,  the  two  voices,  from  above 
and  from  beneath.  Elijah  had  his  bap- 
tism, in  the  rain  which  came  down  in 
answer  to  his  prayer,  and  then,  in  the  desert, 
his  temptation  followed. 

You  know  that  there  are  three  significant 
years  in  the  life  of  St.  Paul  of  which  we  are 
told  nothing.  He  beholds  the  heavenly  vision, 
which  suddenly  stands  like  a  pillar  of  fire  be- 
tween his  past  and  his  future ;  in  Damascus,  he 
learns  in  detail  the  truth  which  from  that  mo- 
ment changes  his  whole  life.  And  what  does 
he  do  then  ?  He  goes  into  Arabia.  He  takes 
himself  out  of  the  sight  of  all  men,  whether 
Jews  or  Christians,  out  of  the  hearing  of  all 


THE  KEALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       67 

human  voices,  into  the  bleak  desert,  into  the 
land  of  rocks  and  solitude.  And  there  he  stays 
three  years.  In  the  history  of  his  life  the 
space  of  these  three  years  is  blank,  totally 
blank.  So  far  as  we  know,  St.  Paul  never 
spoke  of  that  experience  :  he  never  told  what 
happened.  But  we  may  guess.  He  was  driven 
by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted 
of  the  devil.  This  new  truth,  which  summons 
you  to  contradict  all  that  you  have  said  and 
stood  for,  which  calls  you  to  a  career  of  pov- 
erty and  difficulty  and  tragedy, — is  it  true  ? 
May  there  not  be  some  mistake  about  it  ? 
And  if  it  is  true,  what  does  it  mean  ?  What 
does  it  mean  for  you  ?  The  apostle  went  into 
the  desert  to  meet  the  devil.  And  the  devil 
asked  him  these  questions.  And  it  took  the 
apostle  three  years  to  answer  them.  That  was 
His  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  First,  the 
heavenly  vision  on  the  Damascus  road ;  then 
the  long  contention  with  doubt  and  desire  and 
the  devil  in  Arabia. 

It  all  belongs  to  human  experience.  Jesus 
Christ,  in  His  temptation,  shares  our  common 
life.  We  understand  Him,  and  He  under- 
stands us  the  better  for  it. 

"  I  am  the  Son  of  God,"  He  says,  over  and  over; 
"  I  am  the  Son  of  God."  Are  you  the  Son  of 
God  ?  Are  you  sure  of  it  ?  You  poor  country 


68      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

carpenter,  bred  among  the  hills  and  fields, 
thirty  years  old  and  up  to  this  hour  quite  with- 
out achievement,  are  you  the  Son  of  God  ?  The 
splendid  affirmation  changes  into  inquiry. 
The  sun  of  assurance  goes  behind  the  clouds 
of  doubt.  The  great  truth  is  too  great  even 
for  the  great  man.  "If,"  he  begins  to  say, 
"if,"  "if."  If  you  are  the  Son  of  God,  prove 
it  to  yourself :  make  these  stones  into  loaves  of 
bread.  If  you  are  the  Son  of  God,  prove  it 
to  the  people :  go,  leap  from  a  turret  of  the 
temple,  and  let  God  your  Father  send  His 
angels  to  catch  you  in  their  hands. 

You  see  how  natural,  how  logical,  how  in- 
evitable the  temptation  was.  The  great  truth 
about  Himself  comes  for  the  first  time  in  its 
fulness  of  meaning,  in  its  fulness  of  conse- 
quence, before  the  human  mind  of  Jesus,  with 
all  that  it  implies  of  change,  and  responsibil- 
ity, and  mission,  and  leadership,  and  divinity, 
and  tragedy,  and  He  goes  away  where  He  can 
be  alone  to  think  about  it,  and  as  He  thinks, 
these  are  His  thoughts,  these  great  tempta- 
tions. 

They  begin  with  doubt,  but  they  do  not 
stay  there.  The  first  temptation  and  the 
second  open  with  the  word  "  if  "  :  but  there  is 
no  "if"  in  the  third.  He  has  got  past  doubt. 
He  knows  now  that  He  is  verily  the  Son  of  God. 


THE  EEALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       69 

But  being  the  Son  of  God,  what  shall  He  do  ? 
How  shall  He  live  His  life  ?  If  I  am  the  Son 
of  God,  what  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  Is  it 
meat  and  drink,  or  is  it  righteousness  and 
truth  ?  Is  it  a  material  kingdom,  as  everybody 
thinks,  or  a  spiritual  kingdom  ?  If  I  am  the 
Son  of  God,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  the 
reign  of  righteousness  and  truth,  how  shall  I  set 
about  to  advance  it?  Shall  I  speak  in  the 
common  words  of  the  synagogue  and  of  the 
street,  using  in  truth's  behalf  only  the  compul- 
sion of  the  truth,  or  shall  I  enforce  truth  by 
appealing  to  men's  sense  of  wonder,  appear- 
ing to  them  descending  from  the  clouds  ? 
Shall  I  preach  ideal  righteousness,  and  in- 
sist that  men  shall  live  in  an  ideal  way, 
setting  them  an  example,  heedless  whether  it 
be  accounted  wise  or  foolish,  practicable  or 
impracticable ;  or  shall  I  accommodate  myself 
to  the  actual  conditions,  taking  men  as  they  are, 
and  for  the  impossible  best  substituting  the  pos- 
sible good ;  shall  I  not  for  the  general  good 
come  to  some  reasonable  understanding  with 
the  devil  ? 

These  were  some  of  the  questions  which  are 
represented  by  the  three  temptations  :  natural 
questions,  difficult  questions, — difficult  because, 
as  the  phrase  is,  there  is  so  much  to  be  said 
on  both  sides.  They  were  essential  questions. 


70      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Before  He  speaks  a  word  aloud,  these  must  be 
settled.  There  He  was  in  the  wilderness, 
fighting  these  things  out. 

Our  Lord  was  actually  tempted.  That  is 
the  initial  fact.  He  was  tempted  like  as  we 
are. 

The  record  of  the  temptations  makes  it  suffi- 
ciently plain  that  what  we  have  here  is  a  para- 
ble rather  than  a  history,  or  a  picture  rather 
than  a  page  from  a  diary.  This  appears,  for 
instance,  in  the  part  which  is  here  taken  by 
the  devil.  The  devil  is  represented  as  person- 
ally encountering  the  Master.  He  points  to 
the  smooth  stones;  he  transports  Jesus  first  to 
the  top  of  the  temple  and  then  to  the  top  of 
the  hill,  and  on  these  eminences  he  stands  be- 
side Him,  talking  with  Him.  This,  unless  it 
has  a  meaning  deeper  than  appears  upon  the 
surface,  takes  out  of  the  temptation  all  of  its 
reality.  From  the  instant  when  the  devil 
actually  appears  upon  the  scene,  the  tempta- 
tion ceases  to  be  a  temptation.  For  it  is 
essential  to  a  genuine  temptation  that  it  must 
be  tempting.  There  must  be  something  so  at- 
tractive about  it,  so  deceptive,  so  persuasive, 
that  even  a  good  man  shall  feel  inclined  to 
accept  its  invitation.  The  choice  which  we  all 
make,  sinners  though  we  are,  is  not  between 
the  known  good  and  the  known  bad  :  it  is  be- 


THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       71 

tween  two  courses  of  action  each  of  which  ap- 
pears to  be  good.  It  is  very  rarely  that  we 
sin,  saying  boldly  to  ourselves,  "This  is 
plainly  in  defiance  of  the  will  of  God,  but  I 
will  do  it."  No,  we  somehow  persuade  our- 
selves that  darkness  is  light,  and  evil  is  good. 
We  do  the  bidding  of  the  devil,  but  in  order  to 
get  us  to  do  it  he  has  to  disguise  himself  so 
that  we  may  not  recognize  him.  If  the  devil 
came,  the  plain  devil,  and  said,  "  Do  this,"  we 
would  not  do  it.  It  is  not  in  that  manner  that 
we  are  tempted.  Still  less,  was  Christ  thus 
tempted.  The  sight  of  the  tempter,  the  conse- 
quent knowledge  that  the  suggestion  of  his 
pointing  finger  was  the  suggestion  of  evil, 
would  have  made  any  true  temptation  totally 
impossible. 

The  account  of  our  Lord's  temptation  is 
therefore  to  be  compared  with  that  other  word 
where  He  said,  "  I  beheld  Satan  as  lightning 
fall  from  heaven."  What  did  that  mean? 
Plainly  it  meant  the  ultimate  defeat  of  error. 
The  disciples  came  and  told  the  Master  that 
they  had  gone  ministering  to  men  as  He  had 
instructed  them,  and  that  the  effects  were 
remarkable.  "  Lord,"  they  said,  "  even  the 
devils  are  subject  unto  us  through  Thy  name." 
"  Yes,"  He  answered,  "  while  you  were  gone,  I 
saw  the  great  devil  himself  fall  out  of  the 


72     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

sky."  That  is,  I  saw  the  power  of  evil  cast 
down  from  his  high  seat. 

After  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness  Jesus 
tried  to  make  His  disciples  understand  it.  He 
had  been  grievously  tempted,  tempted  to 
doubt  His  own  personality,  tempted  to  depart 
now  in  this  direction,  and  now  in  that,  from 
His  high  ideal.  He  wished  to  help  His  dis- 
ciples, partly  by  showing  them  that  He  was 
able  to  have  sympathy  with  them  in  their  own 
temptations,  and  partly  by  assuring  them  from 
His  own  experience  that  it  was  possible  to 
resist  even  the  mightiest,  even  the  subtlest  of 
temptations.  And  He  did  it,  not  in  our  occi- 
dental fashion,  but  in  the  natural  manner  of 
His  own  time  and  land.  He  did  it  by  a  para- 
ble, or  a  picture.  He  did  it,  that  is,  in  a  way 
to  appeal  to  all  people  of  all  lands  and  times. 
The  devil  came,  He  said,  and  spoke  to  Me. 

True  ?  It  was  more  profoundly  true — yes, 
in  the  best  sense,  more  practically  true — than 
all  the  accurate  statements  of  all  the  arithme- 
tic and  history  that  have  been  written  since 
the  children  of  Cain  built  the  first  city.  Let 
us  diligently  disabuse  our  minds  of  the  false 
and  misleading  notion  that  nothing  is  true 
except  the  verifiable  assertions  of  plain  prose. 
Poetry  is  true,  pictures  are  true,  even  fiction  is 
true,  whenever  the  poet  or  the  artist  or  the 


THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       73 

author  tells  the  truth.  Not  the  fact :  that  is 
another  and  a  lesser  matter.  The  first  chapters 
of  the  first  Book  of  Chronicles  are  filled  with 
facts :  there  is  nothing  there  but  facts.  And 
nobody  can  read  them.  "And  the  sons  of 
Caleb,  the  brother  of  Jerahmeel  were  Mesha 
his  first-born  which  was  the  father  of  Ziph, 
and  the  sons  of  Mareshah  the  father  of 
Hebron.  And  the  sons  of  Hebron  ;  Korah  and 
Tappuah  and  Rekem  and  Shema.  And 
Sheina  begat  Rah  am  the  father  of  Jorkoam ; 
and  Kekem  begat  Shammai."  So  it  goes  on, 
one  hard  name  after  another  interminably: 
fact  upon  fact.  The  parable  of  the  prodigal 
son,  on  the  other  hand,  has  not  a  fact  in  it, 
from  beginning  to  end.  There  was  no  prod- 
igal son ;  there  was  no  famine ;  there  was  no 
father,  no  fatted  calf,  no  elder  brother.  This 
was  a  beautiful  story  which  Jesus  told ;  and  He 
made  it  up,  every  word  of  it.  But  it  is  never- 
theless so  true, — so  vitally,  so  eternally,  so 
searchingly  and  blessedly  true, — that  all  the 
studious  saints  from  the  beginning  of  the 
gospel  to  this  present  day,  have  not  discov- 
ered all  its  truth.  Nothing  can  be  more  true 
than  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son. 

So  it  is  with  the  story  of  the  temptation  of 
Christ.  It  has  no  place  in  the  world  of  fact. 
Taken  literally,  it  never  happened.  Jesus  and 


74     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

the  devil  never  stood  side  by  side  looking 
down  upon  the  hard  paving-stones  of  the 
courtyard  of  the  temple.  And  Jesus  never 
intended  us  to  think  for  a  moment  that  they 
did.  When  we  read  the  record  as  if  it  were 
an  account  in  a  newspaper,  He  asks  us,  as  He 
asked  His  disciples  on  a  like  occasion,  How  is  it 
that  ye  do  not  understand  ?  The  temptation 
belongs  not  to  the  world  of  statistical  fact  but 
to  the  world  of  spiritual  truth.  It  is  the  re- 
port of  an  experience  so  tremendous  that  it 
could  not  be  told  in  the  common  terms  of 
every-day  narration.  Every  word  of  it  is  true ; 
every  syllable  of  it  is  true  ;  but  its  meaning  is 
not  upon  the  surface,  but  beneath  it.  The 
longer  we  live,  the  longer  the  race  lives,  the 
more  we  understand  how  true  the  story  of  the 
temptation  is. 

Jesus  Christ  was  both  truly  and  sorely 
tempted,  in  the  wilderness  and  out  of  it.  It  is 
significantly  said  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  ac- 
counts of  the  temptation  that  "  the  devil  de- 
parted from  Him  for  a  season."  Yes,  for  a 
season,  coming  back  again,  with  new  perplex- 
ities, new  problems,  new  deceptions.  Once 
our  Lord  spoke  of  His  whole  ministry  as  a 
series  of  temptations,  saying  to  His  disciples, 
"  Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  Me 
in  My  temptations."  It  is  even  said  of  Him, 


THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.   75 

in  words  much  bolder  than  we  would  venture 
to  use  to-day,  that  He  learned  obedience  by  the 
things  which  He  suffered  :  as  if,  even  for  Him, 
obedience  was  a  lesson  hard  to  learn.  He  had 
to  learn  it,  as  we  do,  taught  by  the  divine 
tuition  of  painful  experience.  We  commonly 
think  of  Him  as  being  so  perfectly  good  by 
birth  and  nature  that  He  never  had  to  try. 
But  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
says  that  He  did  have  to  try,  and  try  hard. 
And  the  story  of  the  temptation  illustrates  it. 
"  We  have  not  an  high  priest  that  cannot  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities : 
but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are." 
It  is  true  that  the  writer  immediately  adds, 
"Yet  without  sin."  But  it  is  plain  that  He 
was  not  easily  without  sin.  He  conquered  in 
the  wilderness,  and  in  every  other  place,  but 
never  without  a  battle. 

The  story  that  is  written  in  glowing  color  in 
the  Boston  Public  Library  is  not  the  only  story 
of  the  Holy  Grail.  Galahad  is  not  the  only 
hero  of  that  mediaeval  legend.  It  is  told  to 
the  accompaniment  of  solemn  music  how 
Parsifal  achieved  the  Grail.  The  most  sig- 
nificant difference  between  the  two  is  that 
Galahad  wins  with  ease,  but  Parsifal  with  dif- 
ficulty. Galahad  is  born  good,  and  stays  good, 
and  never  meets  a  champion  who  does  him  any 


76      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

serious  hurt.  On  he  goes,  serene  and  confi- 
dent, as  if  the  quest  of  the  Grail  were  but  a 
summer  journey  along  a  shady  lane.  But 
Parsifal  is  one  of  us.  He  has  our  human 
nature.  He  lights  our  human  battles,  while 
we  hold  our  breath  wondering  whether  he 
will  win  or  not ;  he  meets  our  own  tempta- 
tions and  finds  them,  terribly  hard,  as  we 
do,  struggles  with  them,  wrestles  with  them, 
is  weary  and  heavy-laden,  hurt  and  bleeding. 
When  he  achieves  the  vision  of  the  Grail, 
it  is  not  with  smiling  face  and  shining  armor. 
Parsifal  is  the  true  hero  of  the  search  for  the 
Holy  Grail,  not  the  serene  Galahad. 

In  the  story  of  the  temptation,  the  Son  of 
God  shows  us  that  He  is  the  Son  of  Man. 
The  divine  master,  the  Lord  of  life,  assures  us 
that  He  is  of  our  kin  and  kind,  flesh  of  our 
flesh.  He  suffers  with  us,  as  well  as  for  us : 
and  is  perfectly  good,  but  not  easily  good. 

Yet  Christ  is  at  the  same  time  divine ;  He  is 
the  express  image  of  the  Heavenly  Father ; 
He  is  God,  manifest  in  man.  To  such  a  being, 
how  can  our  human  temptations  have  reality  ? 
How  can  they  touch  Him  ?  Did  He  not  look 
on,  past  the  eyes  of  the  tempter,  into  the  face 
of  the  eternal  ?  "Was  not  the  desert  crowded, 
rank  on  rank,  with  the  horsemen  and  the  char- 
iots of  God,  ready  at  a  word  to  reinforce 


THE  REALITY  OF  THE  TEMPTATION.       77 

Him  ?  Had  He  not  more  than  twelve  legions 
of  angels  at  His  back?  Did  He  not  know- 
well  that  this  was  but  a  passing  trial,  an  inci- 
dent of  the  journey,  as  He  went  on  to  certain 
victory  and  peace  ?  Yonder,  across  the  nar- 
row desert,  did  not  the  hill  of  the  transfigur- 
ation shine  ?  Whoever  is  sure  that  He  will 
come  safe  out  of  the  battle,  may  easily  be 
brave.  Was  He  not  absolutely  sure  ? 

But  read  at  the  end  how  angels  came  and 
ministered  unto  Him.  What  does  that  mean  ? 
Plainly,  it  means  weariness,  it  means  distress, 
it  means  wounds  to  be  bound  up,  it  means  that 
though  the  victory  is  won  the  victor  has 
gained  it  only  by  desperate  contention. 

Jesus  is  God  revealing  Himself  in  man,  not 
God  disguised  as  man.  The  infinite  God 
manifesting  Himself  in  finite  man,  must  of 
necessity  subject  Himself  to  human  limita- 
tions. So  He  bears  our  sicknesses  and  carries 
our  sorrows ;  He  becomes  acquainted  with 
grief ;  He  subjects  Himself  to  the  reality  of 
our  temptations.  God  cannot  reveal  Himself 
in  man  on  any  easier  conditions.  God  can  put 
on  humanity  as  a  cloak,  and  go  about  our 
streets  wearing  it,  and  looking  like  a  man,  and 
in  that  form  be  superior  to  all  our  ills.  But 
that  is  not  what  we  mean  when  we  say  the 
Nicene  Creed.  We  mean  something  far  more 


78      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

mysterious,  more  intimate,  more  real  than  that. 
God  was  in  Christ ;  the  Word  became  flesh ; 
the  Eternal  took  on  Him  our  human  nature 
and  became  man.  Of  course,  He  was  tempted. 
It  was  essential  that  He  should  be  tempted. 
He  could  not  have  become  man  without  it. 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world  by 
His  temptation,  as  well  as  by  His  crucifixion. 
In  the  wilderness  sin  meets  Him,  as  on  the 
cross  death  meets  Him ;  and  He  suffers.  He 
conquers,  but  He  suffers.  He  bruises  the  ser- 
pent's head,  but  the  serpent  stings  His  heal. 
Thus  it  is  that  He  can  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities.  He  knows  how  it 
is.  He  knows  by  hard  experience  how  bitter 
a  thing  it  is  to  fight  with  the  devil.  He  in 
whom  we  see  God,  sympathizes.  He  who  will 
judge  us  tempted  sinners,  understands. 


THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS. 

Except  I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and 
put  my  finger  iuto  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand 
into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe.— John  20  : 25. 

THAT  is  what  St.  Thomas  said  on  Easter 
Monday. 

The  central  truth  of  the  Christian  religion 
had  to  win  its  way  against  the  opposition  of 
doubt.  Not  Thomas  only  but  all  the  apostles 
questioned  and  rejected  it.  When  Jesus  said 
to  them  that  after  being  put  to  death  He 
would  rise  again  upon  the  third  day,  they  list- 
ened with  dull  minds,  hearing  His  words, — 
which  were  plain  enough, — but  not  under- 
standing them.  They  asked  each  other  pri- 
vately what  this  resurrection  from  the  dead 
could  mean,  but  they  got  no  satisfying  answer. 
So  slight  was  the  impression  made  by  the 
words  that  they  appear  to  have  forgotten  them 
altogether.  When  the  women  came  hurrying 
from  the  empty  tomb,  declaring  that  they  had 
seen  a  vision  of  angels  assuring  them  that 
Christ  was  risen  from  the  dead,  the  apostles 
gave  no  credence  to  the  story,  accounting  it  an 
idle  tale.  The  gospel  of  the  resurrection  was 

79 


80      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

preached  to  them,  and  they  all  with  one  con- 
sent refused  to  hear  it. 

You  remember  how  Thomas  persisted  in  his 
doubt.  After  all  the  others  were  convinced 
he  still  held  back.  Easter  Day  had  been  full 
of  wonders.  Jesus  had  appeared  to  Mary 
Magdalene,  and  to  the  little  company  of  holy 
women ;  He  had  manifested  Himself  to  the  two 
disciples  who  were  walking  home  to  Emmaus ; 
some  time  during  the  day,  Peter  had  seen  Him ; 
He  had  entered  into  the  presence  of  the  fright- 
ened disciples  who  were  gathered  that  evening 
in  the  upper  room  and  had  made  it  plain  by 
the  sight  of  His  nail-pierced  hands  and  feet 
that  it  was  indeed  Himself.  "  But  Thomas," 
we  read,  "  Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve,  called 
Didymus,  was  not  with  them  when  Jesus 
came."  And  he  refused  to  be  convinced.  The 
whole  apostolic  company  together  could  not 
persuade  him. 

Then  a  week  went  by.  The  Sunday  after 
Easter  came.  "  And  after  eight  days  again 
His  disciples  were  within,  and  Thomas  was 
with  them  ;  then  came  Jesus,  the  doors  being 
shut,  and  stood  in  the  midst,  and  said,  Peace 
be  unto  you.  Then  saith  He  unto  Thomas : 
Keach  hither  thy  finger  and  behold  My  hands, 
and  reach  hither  thy  hand  and  thrust  it  into 
My  side,  and  be  not  faithless  but  believing." 


THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS.  81 

But  Thomas  needs  no  test.  The  sight  of  the 
face  of  Christ  suffices  him.  "And  Thomas 
answered,  My  Lord  and  my  God.  Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  Me 
thou  hast  believed  ;  blessed  are  they  that  have 
not  seen  and  yet  have  believed." 

This  is  the  record  of  the  unbelief  of  Thomas. 
I  desire  to  emphasize  especially  these  three 
sentences :  "  Except  I  shall  see  in  His  hands 
the  print  of  the  nails,  I  will  not  believe  " ;  that 
tells  us  that  Thomas  was  an  unbeliever :  "  And 
after  eight  days  His  disciples  were  within,  and 
Thomas  with  them" ;  that  shows  that  in  spite 
of  his  unbelief  he  continued  in  the  apostolic 
company  :  "  Thomas  answered  and  said  unto 
Him,  My  Lord  and  my  God  " ;  thus  was  his 
unbelief  changed  into  complete  faith.  The 
presence  of  the  unbeliever,  the  conduct  of  the 
unbeliever,  and  the  conversion  of  the  unbe- 
liever, are  the  three  matters  upon  which  I 
purpose  to  comment. 

There  was  an  unbeliever  among  the  apos- 
tles :  let  us  begin  with  that.  Indeed,  as  I 
have  reminded  you,  there  were  at  one  time 
among  the  eleven  apostles  as  many  as  eleven 
unbelievers.  Only  one  is  now  left ;  but  he  is 
an  unbeliever  in  good  earnest.  Listen  to  him. 
He  will  not  say,  "  If  I  can  but  touch  His  nail- 
pierced  hands,  I  will  believe."  That  would 


82      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

mean  that  faith  was  at  least  possible.  Thomas 
sees  no  possibility  of  faith.  "  I  will  never  be- 
lieve," he  says,  "  unless  I  can  put  my  finger 
into  the  print  of  the  nails." 

Fart  of  the  unbelief  of  Thomas  was  tem- 
peramental. It  belonged  to  the  nature  of  the 
man.  He  did  not  believe  anything  easily. 
He  was  not  easily  stimulated  to  hope,  nor  apt 
to  console  himself  in  trouble  with  the  com- 
forting visions  of  a  sanguine  imagination.  He 
had  not  the  good  gift  of  seeing  the  world  on 
its  bright  side.  Thomas  was  naturally  a  de- 
spondent person,  quick  to  discover  difficulty, 
slow  to  believe.  Everything  that  we  are  told 
about  him  shows  that. 

We  are  informed,  for  example,  that  when 
Jesus  turned  His  face  towards  Bethany,  propos- 
ing to  visit  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  Thomas  was 
in  despair.  They  had  threatened  in  Judea  to 
kill  the  Master  if  He  dared  to  venture  again 
within  their  borders,  and  He  was  now  about  to 
undertake  that  perilous  journey.  Thomas  saw 
nothing  but  death  ahead.  At  once  his  mind 
settled  upon  the  worst.  "  Let  us  also  go," 
he  said,  "  that  we  may  die  with  Him."  He 
was  a  brave  man,  but  he  lacked  hope. 

Again,  at  the  last  supper,  during  our  Lord's 
long  conversation  with  the  apostles,  it  was 
Thomas  who  broke  in  as  the  Master  said, 


THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS.       83 

"Whither  I  go  ye  know  and  the  way  ye 
know,"  and  "  Thomas  saith  unto  Him,  Lord, 
we  know  not  whither  Thou  goest,  and  how  can 
we  know  the  way  ?  "  It  was  the  same  refusal 
to  take  things  for  granted,  the  same  inability 
to  believe  that  everything  would  somehow 
come  out  right,  which  he  had  shown  before. 
Thomas  looked  into  the  future,  and  it  was  all 
black.  He  could  see  no  "  way  "  in  it  at  all. 

The  temperament  of  Thomas  constitutes 
him  an  excellent  witness  of  the  resurrection. 
Let  us  have  an  unbeliever  in  the  midst  of  that 
enthusiastic  company  of  disciples,  somebody 
with  observant  and  critical  eyes,  with  a  prac- 
tical mind,  not  easily  roused  into  belief,  nat- 
urally incredulous,  with  an  invincible  convic- 
tion that  dead  people  stay  dead;  give  us  a 
witness  with  a  will  of  his  own,  whose  judg- 
ment is  not  jostled  out  of  its  way  by  any 
crowd,  however  big,  whose  best  friend  cannot 
persuade  him  to  believe  what  he  does  not 
actually  and  heartily  believe,  who  resolutely  re- 
fuses to  credit  what  he  has  not  seen  with  his 
own  eyes.  Here  he  is,  in  the  person  of  Thomas. 

In  the  pictures  and  the  statues  he  is  seen, 
a  man  of  sober  features,  with  brows  furrowed, 
pondering  hard  questions,  looking  down  at  a 
measuring  rule  which  he  is  holding  in  his 
hands. 


84      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

See,  now,  how  this  unbeliever  behaves  him- 
self in  the  company  of  the  faithful,  and  how 
they  conduct  themselves  towards  him,  and 
how  Christ  treats  him.  So  long  as  there  is 
unbelief  among  men,  it  will  be  worth  while 
to  study  this  relationship  of  the  skeptic  to  the 
saints.  Thomas  is  not  dead.  He  is  alive  to- 
day, multiplied  by  thousands.  We  are  all  of 
us  acquainted  with  Thomas.  What  shall  he 
have  to  do  with  us,  and  we  with  him  ? 

If  the  good  example  of  the  old  time  is  to  be 
followed,  Thomas  will  continue  in  our  com- 
pany, and  we  will  be  glad  to  have  him  with 
us.  His  unbelief  will  not  hinder  his  associa- 
tion with  us,  nor  will  our  faith  forbid  him. 
Thomas  did  stay  away  once,  and  that  time  he 
missed  something.  The  next  Sunday  he  was 
in  his  place,  and  the  revelation  came  to  him. 

The  best  thing  that  Thomas  can  do  to-day 
is  to  come  to  church.  He  does  not  believe 
the  central  truth  of  Christianity ;  he  is  a 
heretic,  he  is  a  skeptic,  he  is  an  infidel, — but 
is  he  absolutely  satisfied  that  he  is  right  ? 
Has  he  got  quite  to  the  end  of  it,  and  made 
the  supreme  discovery?  Is  he  entirely  sure 
that  the  creed  of  the  ages  is  a  lie?  Has  he 
shut  his  mind  against  the  entrance  of  any 
possible  new  light  and  truth  ?  Has  he  stopped 
thinking  ?  Is  he  serenely  contented  ? 


THE  UNBELIEF  OF  THOMAS.  85 

A  man  who  hears  one  side  for  six  days,  as 
some  men  do,  ought  to  give  the  other  side  one 
day's  hearing  out  of  the  seven.  An  honest 
man  owes  that  to  himself. 

It  ought  to  be  understood  that  the  church  is 
not  an  ecclesiastical  club,  within  whose  doors 
only  they  may  come  who  are  quite  congenial 
with  all  the  others.  It  ought  to  be  understood 
that  the  act  of  attendance  at  the  services  of  the 
church  does  not  commit  one  to  entire  accord 
with  the  church  in  all  respects.  One  may  be 
attracted  by  its  good  works,  and  glad  to  take 
his  share  in  them,  without  being  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  its  creed.  He  be  but  a  little  way 
along  in  the  Christian  life,  being  conscious  of  se- 
rious defects  of  character,  yet  setting  a  worthy 
ideal  before  him,  and  earnestly  desiring  to 
attain  it.  He  may  be  an  honest  seeker  after 
truth,  and  in  perfect  fairness  willing  to  hear 
what  they  have  to  say  who  hold  that  the 
truth  of  the  ages, — the  truth  that  heaven  is 
open  and  God  is  near  at  hand, — is  true  in- 
deed. In  any  case,  his  place  is  in  the  church. 
If  there  is  any  truth  beyond  that  which  he 
has  already,  he  will  come  to  a  knowledge  of 
it,  as  Thomas  did,  by  keeping  in  Christian 
company,  by  his  presence  in  the  Christian  con- 
gregation. 

The  lesson  of    that    Sunday  after  Easter 


86      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

needs  to  be  learned  by  believers  also.  Thomas 
is  a  good  example,  but  so  also  is  Peter,  so  is 
John,  and  the  rest  of  those  whose  faith  was 
sound.  Thomas  did  not  stay  away,  and  they 
did  not  wish  him  to  stay  away.  Nobody  cast 
curious  and  questioning  eyes  upon  him,  asking, 
"  Why  is  this  unbeliever  among  us  ?  "  They 
made  him  welcome.  This  is  worth  thinking 
about. 

This  lesson  has  often  been  lost  sight  of 
among  Christians.  Thomas  has  many  times 
been  turned  out  of  doors,  excommunicated,  and 
worse  things  done  to  him.  Doubt  has  been 
accounted  a  crime.  It  has  been  held  in  worse 
esteem  than  the  breaking  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments. Prisons  have  been  prepared  for 
it,  and  stakes  set  up  in  market-places,  and  fires 
kindled.  That  was  not  the  spirit  of  the 
apostolic  company.  Nor  of  Him  who  stood 
there  in  the  midst  of  them  holding  out  His 
hands  to  Thomas.  Jesus  loved  that  unbeliev- 
ing Thomas,  as  He  loves  all  honest  and  earnest 
men  everywhere.  He  had  no  wish  to  put  him 
away.  What  He  desired  was  to  bring  him 
nearer.  He  knew  the  love  that  Thomas  had 
in  his  heart ;  and  the  love  even  of  a  heretic  is 
a  hundred  times  better  than  the  cold  faith  of 
an  orthodox  believer, — St.  Paul  being  our 
witness. 


THE  UNBELIEF  OP  THOMAS.  87 

There  is  no  room  for  any  question  as  to  the 
attitude  of  Jesus  Christ  towards  honest  doubt. 
When  He  held  out  His  hands  to  Thomas  there 
in  the  upper  room,  He  made  that  as  clear  as 
the  shining  light. 

At  last,  to  unbelieving  Thomas,  in  the 
apostles'  company,  came  the  revelation  of  the 
truth,  and  doubt  was  changed  to  faith.  Down 
he  fell  upon  his  knees,  crying,  "  My  Lord  and 
my  God  !  "  That  was  faith,  indeed.  None  of 
the  others  had  said  that. 

Sometimes  the  doubters  make  the  best  be- 
lievers. When  they  come  into  the  light  of 
faith  they  know  how  to  appreciate  it,  after  the 
darkness.  They  value  it  more  highly  than 
those  who  have  always  lived  in  the  light. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  conventional  believing. 
There  are  people  who  believe  because  they 
have  never  seriously  considered  the  articles  of 
the  creed.  They  were  taught  the  Christian 
religion,  as  they  were  taught  the  decent 
customs  of  Christian  civilization,  by  their 
good  parents.  And  they  have  gone  on  ever 
since,  taking  things  for  granted,  asking  no 
questions.  There  is  an  element  of  good  in 
this.  It  is  by  no  means  to  be  expected  that 
all  Christians  shall  have  a  critical  mind.  It  is 
not  absolutely  necessary  to  ask  questions. 
Some  of  these  contented  people,  however, 


88      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

are  like  persons  who  live  all  their  lives  in  the 
presence  of  some  majestic  mountain,  or  beau- 
tiful valley,  or  sublime  expanse  of  sea,  and  be- 
hold daily  that  which  others  come  miles  to  see, — 
behold  without  any  real  recognition,  missing 
the  sight  of  God.  It  is  sometimes  not  a  bad 
thing  to  fall  into  the  difficulties  of  doubt.  It 
breaks  up  conventionality.  It  brings  us  face 
to  face  with  life.  When  we  get  a  good  hold 
of  the  truth  again,  we  value  it,  as  shipwrecked 
people  value  dry  land. 

Thomas  cried,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God," 
when  he  saw  Christ.  What  had  converted 
Thomas  ?  Was  it  the  test  which  he  had  pro- 
posed to  himself?  Did  he  put  his  finger  into 
the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  his  hand  into 
the  wounded  side,  and  thus  believe  ?  No ; 
Thomas  looked  into  the  face  of  Jesus,  and  was 
satisfied.  He  tried  no  tests;  he  asked  no 
more  than  that.  He  saw  Christ,  and  that  was 
enough. 

We,  too,  may  see  Christ,  and  the  sight  of 
Him  shall  help  us  as  it  helped  Thomas.  He 
speaks  still  in  the  pages  of  the  gospels.  Every 
day  He  holds  out  His  nail-pierced  hands  to  us. 
We,  too,  may  know  Him ;  and  to  know  Him 
is  to  believe  in  Him ;  and  to  believe  in  Him, 
to  serve  Him  and  to  love  Him  is  life  eternal. 


BLIND  BAKTIM^EUS. 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  as  He  was  come  nigh  unto  Jericho, 
a  certain  blind  man  sat  by  the  wayside  begging.—  Luke  18: 35. 

BAEDEKER'S  "Palestine"  has  no  map  of 
Jericho.  The  place  has  long  since  ceased  to 
exist.  Its  walls  lie  flatter  than  they  were  ever 
laid  by  Joshua.  It  was  there,  however,  plain 
enough  when  the  matter  happened  of  which  I 
purpose  to  speak.  The  small  child  was  mis- 
taken who  imagined  that  Jericho  was  in 
heaven.  It  stood  on  solid  earth ;  as  actual  and 
homely  and  familiar  as  any  common  town 
with  which  we  are  acquainted.  We  sur- 
round it  with  a  fictitious  sacredness  which 
makes  the  miraculous  easy  and  natural.  We 
read  without  hesitation  that  a  blind  man's 
eyes  were  opened  in  Jericho.  If  we  were 
told  that  a  similar  healing  had  been  enacted 
in  Jersey  City  we  would  regard  the  tale  with 
different  feelings.  But  to  the  men  of  that 
time,  Jericho  was  like  Jersey  City.  It  offered 
quite  as  unpromising  a  background  for  a 
miracle. 

Jericho  lay  in  the  Jordan  valley.  Up 
among  the  hills,  at  Jerusalem,  the  winds 

89 


90      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

blew ;  but  it  was  very  hot  at  Jericho.  It  is 
true,  the  place  was  called  the  City  of  Palms ; 
but  the  palm  is  one  of  the  least  satisfactory  of 
trees.  Although  it  grows  where  there  is  great 
need  of  shade,  it  gives  little:  it  is  mostly 
stem.  A  single  New  England  pine  or  oak  is 
better  than  a  grove  of  palms.  So  the  sun 
blazed  down  on  Jericho;  and  the  earth  was 
white,  and  most  of  the  buildings  were  white, 
and  altogether  it  was  very  trying  to  the  eyes, 
and  in  consequence  there  were  a  great  many 
blind  men  in  that  city. 

On  the  day  when  this  wonder  happened, 
one  of  these  blind  men  was  sitting  in  the  main 
street  by  one  of  the  city  gates.  It  was  in  the 
morning,  for  we  know  what  had  occurred  the 
night  before ;  and  it  was  in  the  spring  of  the 
year,  for  the  Passover  was  near  at  hand.  Thus 
every  sight  was  fair  and  sweet  with  the  tender 
beauty  of  the  early  day  and  of  the  early 
season.  And  in  the  midst  of  it  all  the  blind 
man  sat  as  unaware  of  this  revelation  of  God 
as  were  some  of  his  dull  neighbors  who  had 
eyes. 

From  the  fact  that  his  father's  name  is 
mentioned — Bartimaeus  meaning  "  the  son  of 
Timseus" — we  may  guess  that  he  was  a  young 
man.  We  may  also  infer  less  certainly  that  he 
belonged  to  a  respectable  family :  everybody 


BLIND  BARTIM^EUS.  91 

knew  his  father.  One  thing  is  plain,  he  was 
very  poor.  He  sat  by  the  wayside  begging. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  lot  of  a  blind  beggar 
must  be  very  hard,  but  there  are  compen- 
sations. It  is  said  of  one  of  the  wise  men  of 
Greece  that  he  voluntarily  put  out  both  his 
eyes,  and  then  saw  twice  as  much  as  anybody 
else  in  that  part  of  the  country.  That  was 
because  he  was  thereby  freed  from  many  petty 
distractions,  and  was  able  to  concentrate  his 
thoughts.  As  for  being  a  beggar,  some  of  the 
best  men  that  ever  lived  have  adopted  that 
mode  of  life  of  their  own  free  choice,  and  have 
delighted  in  it.  Francis  of  Assisi  did.  He 
preferred  to  be  poor.  It  was  a  state  of  blessed 
independence.  People  talk  about  being  inde- 
pendently rich,  but  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
being  independently  poor. 

Thus  the  blind  beggar  was  a  more  privi- 
leged person  than  one  might  naturally  think ; 
he  had  both  leisure  and  liberty.  He  had  time 
to  think,  and  he  could  think  what  thoughts  he 
would. 

He  had  much  to  think  about,  that  morning. 
The  day  before  there  had  come  into  the  town 
a  person  about  whom  everybody  was  talking. 
Our  Lord  was  now  approaching  the  end  of  His 
ministry,  and,  although  each  day  brought  Him 
an  increase  of  enemies,  all  people  were  greatly 


92      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

interested  in  Him.  When  He  came  into  the 
town,  all  the  citizens  were  in  the  streets  to  see 
Him.  That  was  yesterday  afternoon.  The 
whole  roadway  was  crowded.  Among  the 
throng  was  the  most  unpopular  man  in  Jericho. 
Almost  everybody  disliked  Zaccheus ;  partly, 
no  doubt,  because  he  was  a  tax-collector,  but 
also,  it  is  likely,  because  he  was  Zaccheus. 
This  unpopular  person,  being  short  of  stature, 
had  climbed  into  a  tree ;  and  our  Lord,  as  He 
passed,  had  looked  up  and  recognized  him,  and 
had  said,  "  Come  down,  Zaccheus,  I  will  dine 
to-day  at  your  house."  You  can  see  how  such 
a  thing  as  that  would  set  all  men  to  talking. 

There  were  two  parties,  calling  our  Lord  by 
different  titles.  Those  who  did  not  believe  in 
Him  called  Him  "Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Those 
who  did,  called  Him  "Jesus,  the  Son  of 
David."  The  blind  beggar,  sitting  by  the 
wayside,  was  turning  all  this  over  in  his  mind. 

And  now,  on  this  spring  morning,  Bar- 
timEeus  sat  in  the  main  street  near  the  city 
gate,  holding  out  his  hand.  And  in  the 
distance  he  heard  a  crowd  coming ;  there  were 
sounds  of  tongues  and  feet.  On  they  came, 
filling  the  street  from  side  to  side.  And  the 
blind  man  did  what  any  blind  man  would  have 
done  under  like  circumstances :  he  reached  out 
his  hand  and  grasped  the  coat  of  the  nearest 


BLIND  BAETIM^EUS.  93 

man,  and  said,  "  What  does  it  mean  ?  What 
is  it  all  about  ? "  And  the  man  answered, 
"Jesus  of  Nazareth  passeth  by."  There  He 
came  along  the  road.  Immediately,  Bar- 
timasus  began  to  call  as  loud  as  he  could, 
"Jesus,  Thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
me !  Jesus,  Thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
me!" 

This  was  the  voice  of  recognition.  The 
blind  man  recognized  the  opportunity.  There 
must  have  been  twenty  blind  men  in  Jericho 
that  day,  and  every  one  of  them  must  have 
known  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  passing  by. 
Nobody  in  the  town  could  help  knowing  that. 
But  not  another  one  was  healed.  Yes  ;  some 
of  the  gospels  say  that  there  was  one  other, 
but  no  more  than  that.  All  the  other  blind 
men  were  blind  when  Jesus  came,  and  just  as 
blind  when  He  went  away.  That  was  because 
they  missed  the  opportunity. 

The  difference  between  people,  whereby 
some  succeed  and  others  fail,  is  due,  of  course, 
in  a  measure,  to  a  difference  of  opportunity ; 
but  still  more  to  a  difference  in  the  recognition 
of  opportunity.  Here  are  two  men  in  the  same 
business ;  one  gets  rich,  while  the  other  stays 
poor.  The  rich  man  may  have  had  no  more 
opportunity  than  the  poor  man ;  but  every 
opportunity  that  came,  he  recognized. 


94      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Here  are  two  men  in  the  same  class  in  col- 
lege. They  have  the  same  teachers,  and  may, 
if  they  will,  have  the  same  companions.  These 
opportunities  are  equal.  One  man  makes  much 
of  himself,  and  becomes  an  eminent  citizen ; 
the  other  lapses  into  ignominious  obscurity. 
Here  are  two  persons  at  the  same  service. 
One  goes  away  blessed ;  the  other  goes  away 
bored.  The  service  is  the  same,  but  the  people 
are  different ;  and  the  difference  is  in  the  mat- 
ter of  recognition. 

Every  day,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  passeth  by. 
In  the  street,  in  the  schoolroom,  in  the  office, 
as  we  read,  as  we  walk,  as  we  work,  He  comes, 
ready  to  bless  us,  if  we  will.  Sometimes,  we 
are  like  the  two  who  went  to  Emmaus,  who 
when  He  made  as  if  He  would  go  on,  urged 
Him  to  come  in.  Or  we  are  like  this  blind 
beggar,  and  appeal  for  help  and  blessing. 

The  beggar's  cry  was  also  an  utterance  of 
faith.  He  not  only  recognized  an  opportunity, 
but  he  found  the  opportunity  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  was  one  of  those  who,  not 
having  seen,  believed. 

His  faith  was  most  inadequate  theologically. 
It  was  sufficient,  however,  religiously.  It  was 
enough  to  make  him  side  with  those  who  were 
the  friends  of  Christ,  and  to  call  out  to  Him 
for  help.  He  believed  that  Jesus  Christ  could 


BLIND  BARTIM^EUS.  95 

help  him.  Presently,  our  Lord  said,  "Thy 
faith  hath  saved  thee."  We  are  accordingly 
assured  that  the  blind  man's  faith  was  saving 
faith.  The  only  kind  of  faith  which  deserves 
that  adjective  is  religious  faith. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  theolog- 
ical and  religious  orthodoxy.  Theological 
orthodoxy  is  an  external  matter,  and  may  not 
even  suffice  to  make  men  respectable.  It  is  a 
thing  of  the  brain  and  of  the  lips,  and  may 
have  no  sort  of  relation  to  the  heart  or  to  the 
hands.  Some  of  the  most  objectionable  of 
men  have  been  scrupulous  in  this  recitation  of 
accurate  doctrinal  formulas:  and  then  they 
have  gone  out  and  broken  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. 

The  difference  between  theological  and 
religious  orthodoxy  is  like  the  difference  be- 
tween botany  and  roses.  Botany  is  about 
roses,  giving  them  scientific  names  and  en- 
abling us  to  take  them  to  pieces  understand- 
ingly.  But  roses  are  the  roses  themselves. 
Or  it  is  like  the  difference  between  grammar 
and  conversation.  Grammar  is  the  science  of 
speech.  As  we  talk,  the  grammarian  notices 
that  we  use  nouns  and  adverbs,  conjugations 
and  declensions.  Or  it  is  like  the  difference 
between  "rhetoric,"  as  it  used  to  be  called, 
and  literature.  The  old  rhetoric  books  took 


96      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Shakespeare  and  Milton  and  called  attention 
to  their  use  of  zeugma,  and  paraleipsis,  and 
anacoluthon.  Mr.  Gardiner,  in  his  "  Forms  of 
Prose  Literature,"  quotes  from,  a  writer  who 
tried  to  assist  his  readers  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  Odes  of  Horace  by  showing  how  they 
illustrated  "the  synectic,  in  its  threefold 
divisions  of  anastomosis,  symptosis  and  pho- 
netic syzygy."  Out  of  a  thousand  admirers 
of  poetry,  even  of  Latin  poetry,  not  more  than 
two  would  probably  be  able  even  to  define 
these  words.  And  yet  the  noble  verse  would 
be  a  delight  and  an  inspiration  to  them  all. 

So  it  is  with  faith.  Formulas  have  but  a 
remote  connection  with  it.  What  is  the  faith 
which  saves  men  ?  It  is  that  which  makes  the 
little  child  hold  tight  to  his  father's  hand. 
You  cannot  define  it.  The  theologians  can  no 
more  define  it  than  the  chemists  can  analyze 
life.  But  you  see  what  it  is.  It  is  that  which 
makes  a  man  appeal  to  Jesus  Christ.  When 
in  the  moment  of  temptation  he  turns  to  Him 
for  strength,  when  in  the  hour  of  sorrow  he 
turns  to  Him  for  comfort,  when  in  the  season 
of  perplexity  he  turns  to  Him  for  truth,  and 
takes  His  word,  then  his  faith  appears.  It 
may  be  as  full  of  error  as  the  blind  man's ; 
but  it  saves  him,  nevertheless. 

Presently  it    appeared    that    the   beggar's 


BLIND  BARTIM^EUS.  97 

voice  of  recognition  and  of  faith  was  also  the 
voice  of  perseverance.  Nobody  could  stop 
him.  "  Jesus,  Thou  Son  of  David,"  he  cried, 
"  have  mercy  on  me."  And  this,  not  once  nor 
twice,  but  many  times.  The  street  was  full 
of  noise,  but  his  cry  was  heard  above  it  all. 
Those  who  stood  about  him  told  him  in  the 
plainest  Hebrew  to  hold  his  tongue ;  it  made 
no  difference.  Or  rather,  it  increased  his 
eagerness ;  so  much  the  more  a  great  deal  he 
continued  to  lift  up  his  voice.  All  the  distrac- 
tion, all  the  hindrance  and  obstruction,  all  the 
indifferent  and  impatient  or  hostile  folk  who 
crowded  in  between  him  and  the  Master,  did 
but  emphasize  his  purpose. 

Then  Jesus  heard  the  cry.  He  stopped, 
and  had  the  man  brought  to  Him.  And  the 
man  cast  away  his  long  cloak,  and  came.  It 
was  very  warm  in  Jericho  in  the  middle  of 
the  day,  but  in  the  spring  there  was  a  chill  in 
the  morning  air.  A  week  after,  in  Jerusalem, 
there  was  a  fire  burning  in  the  courtyard  of 
the  high  priest's  house,  where  Peter  stood  and 
warmed  himself.  So  the  beggar  had  a  long 
cloak  wrapped  about  him.  Begging,  even  in 
warm  weather,  is  a  cold  business. 

The  blind  man  cast  away  his  cloak  and 
came.  "  What  do  you  want  ?  "  said  the  Mas- 
ter. "  I  want  to  see,"  said  the  man. 


98      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Blessed  is  he  who  knows  thus  plainly  what 
he  wants.  Bartimseus  knew  his  defect  dis- 
tinctly. One  reason  why  we  make  such  halt- 
ing and  uncertain  progress  towards  spiritual 
health  is  because  we  do  not  know  what  is  the 
matter  with  us.  We  have  a  vague  idea  that 
we  are  not  as  good  as  we  ought  to  be:  we 
have  various  faults.  But  what  we  need  to  do 
is  to  take  our  imperfections  one  by  one  and 
definitely  and  patiently  amend  them.  Let 
the  others  go :  take  one,  and  bring  it  to  the 
Master,  as  the  blind  man  brought  his  blind 
eyes.  Thus  shall  we  be  helped. 

And  Jesus  touched  him.  He  made  the  beg- 
gar see.  That  was  a  miracle.  The  name  is 
appropriate :  it  means  a  wonderful  thing,  and 
this  was  a  wonderful  thing.  So  far,  however, 
was  it  from  being  against  nature,  that  it  was 
the  most  natural  of  all  events.  One  of  the 
contributions  of  Christian  Science  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  in  the  fact  that  it  is  impressing 
upon  us  the  naturalness  of  the  miraculous. 
Miracles  are  every -day  occurrences.  People 
are  being  healed,  as  this  blind  man  was,  with- 
out medicine,  by  the  touch  of  a  hand  or  by 
the  tones  of  a  voice,  until  we  are  coming  to 
understand  that  it  is  all  as  harmonious  with 
natural  law  as  the  action  of  medicine.  The 
old  notion  that  in  a  miracle  God  broke  in 


BLIND  BARTIM^EUS.  99 

upon  the  course  of  nature  is  no  longer  held  by 
instructed  and  intelligent  persons.  God  is  in 
all  nature.  By  His  ordering  there  is  a  rela- 
tion not  only  between  drugs  and  the  body, 
but  between  the  mind  and  the  body.  Jesus 
understood  that  relation,  and  acted  upon  it. 
Or  rather,  His  personality  coming  in  contact 
as  here  with  physical  weakness  brought  about 
an  inevitable  and  natural  result.  He  could 
not  help  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind.  The 
blind  man  who  recognized  Him  as  He  passed 
by,  opened  his  own  eyes. 

The  miracles  are  recorded  in  the  Bible  not 
so  much  on  account  of  their  marvel,  as  on  ac- 
count of  their  meaning.  Of  the  many  acts  of 
healing  which  Jesus  did,  these  are  selected  for 
their  significance.  What,  then,  does  this  mira- 
cle mean  ? 

The  man  came  blind,  and  went  away  blind 
no  longer:  the  fact  is  significant  spiritually. 
The  man  came  a  beggar,  and  went  away  a 
beggar  no  longer:  the  fact  is  significant  so- 
cially. 

Take  first  the  spiritual  lesson.  The  man's 
eyes  were  opened.  It  is  a  symbol  of  our 
Lord's  whole  ministry :  that  is  what  He  came 
to  do.  And  that  is  what  we  need.  To  see 
the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  to 
see  the  way  of  duty,  to  see  the  subtle  distinc- 


100     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

tions  between  truth  and  falsehood,  to  see  our 
neighbor  and  ourself,  and  God — who  is  there 
that  can  do  this  clearly  ?  Even  St.  Paul  had 
to  say  that  we  see  now  "  through  a  glass, 
darkly."  Jesus  Christ  will  give  us  sight. 
Many  a  man  has  come  to  Him  blind,  and  has 
gone  away  with  such  a  gift  of  sight  as  has  re- 
vealed to  him  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth. 
Thenceforth  the  world  has  been  a  different 
world.  It  has  happened  again  and  again.  It 
is  one  of  the  supreme  miracles,  ever  so  much 
more  wonderful  and  effective  than  the  cure  of 
Bartima3us.  And  we  can  verify  it.  There  is 
no  uncertainty  about  it.  We  know  men  and 
women  in  our  own  circle  of  acquaintance  who 
have  been  transformed  by  knowing  Jesus 
Christ.  To-day,  for  every  one  of  us,  He  pass- 
eth  by.  He  will  open  our  eyes,  if  we  wish  it, 
as  the  blind  man  did. 

Take  now  the  social  lesson.  This  blind  beg- 
gar is  the  symbol  of  a  present  problem,  the 
problem  of  poverty.  What  shall  we  do  for 
the  poor?  There  were  excellent  people  in 
Jericho  who  asked  themselves  that  question, 
and  answered  it  by  a  distribution  of  alms. 
As  they  passed  along  the  street  and  saw  Bar- 
timasus,  with  his  outstretched  hat  or  hand, 
they  put  something  into  it.  And  the  next 
day,  they  found  the  same  beggar  in  the  same 


,",  i      '   '    ,'»»'»'»» 

',',>>>>>>       *»•*»•»     " 

BLIND  BABTIMJEUS.  101 

position.  So  it  went  on.  The  poor  were 
helped  in  their  poverty,  but  they  were  not 
helped  out  of  their  poverty.  Then  the  Master 
came,  and  when  He  helped  the  man,  He  left 
him  a  different  man.  He  was  a  beggar  no 
longer.  For  Jesus  addressed  Himself,  not  to 
the  man's  poverty,  but  to  the  cause  of  his  pov- 
erty. Bartimaeus  was  a  beggar  because  he 
was  blind.  Jesus  opened  his  eyes. 

It  is  the  new  philanthropy.  The  new  phi- 
lanthropists are  trying  not  only  to  alleviate 
poverty,  but  to  remove  it.  They  are  endeav- 
oring to  understand  it,  to  get  at  the  causes  of 
it,  and  to  change  the  conditions. 

Then  the  blind  man  saw ;  and  the  first  thing 
that  he  saw  was  the  way  before  his  feet.  On 
it  led  after  Jesus  Christ.  The  man  went  along 
that  way.  He  followed  Him.  He  took  the 
gift  which  the  Lord  had  given  him,  and  used 
it  in  the  Lord's  service. 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP. 

Philip  findeth  Nathaniel.—  John  I:  45. 

THUS  the  church  begins.  One  man  makes 
the  supreme  discovery  and  comes  into  ac- 
quaintance with  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
straight  he  goes  and  tells  his  new  truth  to 
another.  Read  the  first  chapters  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Christian  Church  as  they  are  writ- 
ten at  the  beginning  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  see  how  many  times  this  incident  is  re- 
peated. It  is  characteristic  of  Christianity. 
It  is  the  instinctive  motion  of  the  Christian. 
One  finds  another,  and  thus  the  kingdom  of 
God  comes. 

Ours  is  an  aggressive  religion.  It  is  never 
contented.  It  stands  by  itself  among  the  re- 
ligions of  the  race  in  its  zeal  for  making  con- 
verts. It  will  never  stop  till  it  has  discovered 
every  Nathaniel,  and  has  brought  him  into 
the  presence  of  Jesus.  It  will  never  be  satis- 
fied until  the  whole  race  is  Christian  :  nor  will 
it  be  contented  then,  until  every  Christian  is  a 
good  Christian.  That  will  be  a  long  time  yet. 

This  aggressive  spirit  is  seen  in  every  Chris- 

102 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP.  103 

tian  who  has  learned  the  mind  of  the  Master, 
and  has  caught  the  deep  meaning  of  His  re- 
ligion, and  is  in  spiritual  sympathy  with  Him. 
The  Christian  does  not  imagine  that  his  task 
is  done  when  he  has  worked  out  his  own 
salvation.  He  does  not  deceive  himself  by 
thinking  that  the  chief  purpose  of  his  life  is 
to  work  out  his  own  salvation.  He  knows 
that  salvation  cannot  be  selfishly  attained, 
that  no  man  can  be  saved  alone,  and  that  we 
save  ourselves  by  saving  our  brethren.  He 
finds  his  best  occupation  in  helping,  uplifting, 
trying  to  save  somebody  else.  It  is  what 
Jesus  said :  He  who  will  save  his  life  shall 
lose  it ;  he  only  who  is  content  to  lose  his 
life  for  Christ's  sake  and  for  the  good  of  his 
neighbors,  shall  find  it.  We  are  good  Chris- 
tians in  proportion  as  we  follow  the  example  of 
that  apostle  who,  having  himself  found  Jesus, 
lost  no  time  till  he  should  bring  his  brother 
also. 

This  aggressive  spirit,  this  longing  to  go  out 
and  bring  some  brother  in,  marks  not  only  the 
Christian  but  the  earnest  man  of  every  creed, 
the  world  over.  It  fired  the  heart  of  a  camel- 
driver  in  an  Arabian  desert,  and  made  him  the 
ambassador  of  God  to  a  sixth  part  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  planet.  "Though  the  sun 
stand  on  my  right  hand  and  the  moon  on  my 


104-      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

left,5?  said  Mohammed,  "  and  both  command 
me  to  hold  my  peace,  yet  must  I  speak." 

It  moved  a  German  schoolmaster,  so  that 
he  became  a  lever  for  overturning  most  of  the 
established  institutions  of  his  day  that  they 
might  be  builded  over  again  better.  You 
know  how  stout  he  stood,  that  honest  Luther; 
nothing  could  shake  him.  "  God  help  me," 
he  declared.  "I  can  do  no  other,  speak  I 
must."  All  the  priests  and  prelates,  all  the 
curses,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  all  the  flames 
and  fagots  notwithstanding,  yet  must  he 
utter  forth  in  the  hearing  of  all  men  the  truth 
which  God  had  given  him.  Though  he  were 
confronted  by  as  many  devils  as  there  were 
tiles  on  all  the  roofs  of  all  the  cities  of  all 
Europe,  yet  must  he  defy  the  whole  Satanic 
multitude  and  tell  his  errand. 

The  aggressive  spirit  makes  earnest  men 
akin.  The  earnest  man  cannot  be  contented 
to  be  right  all  alone.  He  will  have  no 
monopoly  of  truth.  He  will  not  have  his 
brain  a  prison  but  a  treasure-house  of  knowl- 
edge. What  he  sees  he  would  have  the  whole 
world  see;  what  he  believes  he  would  have 
the  whole  world  believe.  His  desire  is  that 
of  the  apostle  who  stood  before  the  king  :  "I 
would  to  God  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all 
that  hear  me  this  day  were  both  almost  and 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP.  105 

altogether  such  as  I  am, — except  these  bonds," 
St.  Paul  added ;  and  he  adds  the  same,  mean- 
ing his  many  limitations  and  shortcomings. 
The  truth  which  he  possesses,  he  would  share 
with  all ;  his  errors  and  faults  he  is  sincerely 
sorry  for,  and  so  much  the  more  as  they  hinder 
him  from  being  helpful. 

It  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  observe 
how  this  aggressive  spirit,  which  is  a  quality 
of  greatness,  marks  in  Holy  Scripture  even 
the  humblest  Christians.  "  The  day  following 
Jesus  would  go  forth  into  Galilee,  and  findeth 
Philip,  and  saith  unto  him,  Follow  me ; "  and  so 
Philip  became  a  Christian.  And  what  next  ? 
"Philip  findeth  Nathaniel."  He  cannot  rest 
till  he  has  found  his  friend  and  brought  him. 

It  is  the  same  in  Samaria.  "The  woman 
saith  unto  Him,  I  know  that  Messias  cometh, 
which  is  called  Christ.  Jesus  saith  unto  her, 
I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  He."  That  was  the 
plainest  word  which  He  had  spoken  of  Him- 
self. To  no  one  anywhere  had  He  told  that 
great  truth  so  fully  and  distinctly,  using  no 
parable:  I  am  the  Christ.  What  does  the 
woman  do  with  this  word  from  heaven  ? 
"The  woman  left  her  water  pot  and  went  her 
way  into  the  city,  and  saith  unto  the  men, 
Come,  see  a  man  which  told  me  all  things  that 
ever  I  did.  Is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  " 


106      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Always  this  word  "  Come."  Come,  cries 
Andrew  to  his  brother  Simon ;  Come,  cries 
Philip  to  Nathaniel ;  Come,  entreats  this 
woman  of  Samaria,  stopping  every  one  whom 
she  meets  in  the  street.  These  people  must 
speak;  they  must  get  somebody  else;  they 
must  tell  what  great  things  Christ  has  done 
for  their  souls. 

Jesus  heals  a  demoniac  in  Gergesa :  "  And 
he  went  his  way  and  published  throughout  the 
whole  city  how  great  things  Jesus  had  done 
for  him."  Matthew  leaves  his  custom-house 
and  follows  Jesus.  He  gives  up  a  good  busi- 
ness to  enter  into  this  new  service.  But  this 
is  not  enough ;  he  must  bring  his  companions, 
also.  He  makes  a  great  supper,  and  gets  all 
his  publican  partners  and  friends  together  to 
meet  Him  whom  henceforth  he  purposes  to 
follow.  The  authorities  seize  John  and  Peter, 
crying,  you  must  speak  no  more  in  this  name. 
If  you  do,  we  will  put  you  into  prison,  and 
worse  afterwards.  But  the  apostles  answer, 
"  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to 
hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge 
ye  ;  for  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which 
we  have  seen  and  heard."  They  simply  could 
not  help  it.  The  great  truth  of  the  Christian 
creed  had  flashed  in  upon  the  souls  of  these 
men,  and  to  keep  silence  about  it  was  impos- 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP.  107 

sible.  Better  be  put  in  prison  a  hundred 
times ;  better  die,  first :  rather  than  be  still. 
St.  Stephen  died.  They  might  stone  him  if 
he  would,  but  while  breath  was  in  him,  speak 
he  must. 

This  aggressive  spirit,  this  impulse  of  the 
Christian  Philip  to  find  Nathaniel,  this  duty, 
desire,  necessity  of  open  testimony  and  per- 
sonal appeal,  ought  to  characterize  every 
Christian.  Every  Christian  ought  to  be  mak- 
ing somebody  else  Christian. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  speak  to  people  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  in  the  pulpit.  They  ex- 
pect it  there.  But  to  address  our  neighbors 
upon  this  matter  in  private  conversation  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  of  occupations. 

One  reason  is  that  we  dislike  to  make  our- 
selves disagreeable.  We  are  afraid  that  the 
subject  may  not  be  a  pleasant  one.  And  it  is 
very  true  that  Philip  may  make  himself  ex- 
ceedingly disagreeable.  He  may  speak  in  an 
unnatural  tone  of  voice,  and  in  a  constrained 
and  singular  manner,  and  in  phrases  which 
seem  affected.  He  may  simply  annoy  Na- 
thaniel, and  do  more  harm  than  good  to  the 
cause  which  he  represents.  Few  people  are 
more  uncomfortably  disagreeable  than  the 
men  and  women  who  are  piously  disagreeable. 
They  make  even  the  saints  lose  their  temper. 


108      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

There  is  no  need,  however,  that  the  subject 
of  personal  religion  should  repel  the  listener. 
There  is  surely  nothing  in  the  theme  itself 
which  is  distasteful.  It  is  concerned  with  the 
highest,  the  most  important,  the  most  helpful 
truth  in  the  world.  If  we  choose  fitting  oc- 
casions and  fitting  people ;  if  we  speak  in  a 
natural  tone  of  voice,  and  behave  like  normal 
human  beings,  and  if  we  do  not  preach  any- 
thing which  we  are  not  ourselves  honestly  fol- 
lowing, we  will  not  make  ourselves  disagree- 
able. 

In  every  friendship  that  is  worth  anything, 
whether  between  parent  and  child,  or  between 
friend  and  friend,  the  moment  does  come, — 
and  not  once  or  twice  only, — when  it  is  just 
the  time  for  a  spiritual  word.  Be  on  the 
watch  for  that  moment,  and  then  speak. 
Have  the  aggressive  spirit  in  your  heart,  be 
possessed  with  the  sense  of  responsibility  for 
your  Christian  influence,  seek  every  good  op- 
portunity to  make  somebody  else  as  good  a 
Christian  as  you  are  yourself,  and  you  will 
find  Nathaniel.  Who  can  measure  the  value 
of  open,  earnest,  manly  Christian  speech  ? 
Sometimes  a  word  has  changed  the  whole  cur- 
rent of  a  life.  Your  words,  just  because  you 
speak  them,  will  be  more  effective  than  a  great 
many  sermons.  What  you  say  may  not  be 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP.  109 

eloquent,  nor  logical  nor  in  all  respects  accu- 
rate; you  may  blunder  in  saying  it;  but  what 
your  friend  will  hear  will  be  the  voice  of  your 
heart. 

I  suppose  that  the  real  difficulty  is  our  con- 
sciousness of  our  own  imperfections.  Who 
are  we  that  we  should  go  to  another,  saying 
by  the  fact  of  our  addressing  hirn  that  we  are 
better  than  he  is,  and  urging  him  to  the  spir- 
itual life  ?  And  if  we  go,  how  shall  we  begin 
to  speak  ?  And  if  our  friend  asks  questions 
or  makes  comments,  how  shall  we  answer 
him? 

Let  us  consider  what  it  is  that  we  desire  to 
do.  We  may  put  it  into  a  single  sentence : 
We  desire  to  bring  our  friend  to  the  knowl- 
edge, and  thus  to  the  love,  and  so  to  the  al- 
legiance of  Jesus  Christ.  What  will  bring 
that  about  ?  Our  own  example  will  do  a  great 
deal.  The  fact  that  we  are  manifestly  devoted 
to  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  are  not  only  regular  in 
our  attendence  upon  those  services  in  which 
we  are  brought  near  to  Him,  but  are  glad  to 
go  and  honestly  regret  to  stay  away,  that  the 
will  of  Jesus  Christ  affects  our  will, — all  this 
is  of  aggressive  value.  Though  we  do  not  say 
a  word,  it  helps.  Christianity  on  Sunday, 
with  a  lack  of  Christianity  between  Sundays, 
does  not  help.  Devotion  to  the  church,  ac- 


110      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

companied  by  selfishness  at  home,  does  not 
help.  If  we  so  live  as  to  make  it  plain  to 
those  who  know  us  that  Jesus  Christ  is  an  ever- 
present  strength  and  joy  to  us ;  if  they  see 
that  He  makes  us  considerate  of  others,  cheer- 
ful under  trials,  patient  in  affliction,  self-sac- 
rificing, and  having  the  spirit  of  service, — that 
helps  immeasurably. 

To  bring  our  friend  where  he  will  hear 
about  Jesus  Christ  is  a  way  to  effect  our 
desire  for  him.  We  may  not  be  able  to  say 
the  word  which  we  want  to  say ;  but  in  the 
church,  where  the  scriptures  are  read  and  the 
gospel  is  preached,  he  may  hear  the  word 
which  he  needs.  If  it  were  an  appreciation 
for  music  which  we  wished  to  cultivate  in  him, 
we  probably  would  not  argue  with  him  about 
the  excellence  of  the  works  of  the  masters,  we 
would  take  him  to  concerts,  to  as  many  concerts 
as  we  could  get  him  to  attend  cheerfully.  We 
would  not  urge  him  against  his  will,  but  we 
would  very  persistently  invite  him.  We  would 
not  expect  much  at  the  beginning :  he  would 
probably  say  a  great  many  times  that  he  would 
never  go  again,  and  would  revile  music  on 
general  principles,  but  he  would  go  if  we  kept 
after  him,  and  by  and  by  he  would  hear  with 
his  ears,  and  rejoice  with  his  heart,  and  be 
converted  musically.  That  is  the  right  thing 


THE  MISSION  OF  PHILIP.  Ill 

to  do  with  the  friend  whom  we  would  bring 
to  an  appreciation  of  religion.  We  will  bring 
him  at  least  to  the  service.  He  ought  never 
to  be  compelled  to  come  in,  but  the  Christian 
in  the  house  ought  never  to  go  to  church  on 
Sunday  without  inviting  the  member  of  the 
family  who  does  not  commonly  go.  That  un- 
wearying, cheerful  invitation  will  accomplish 
much. 

That  is  what  Philip  did.  He  did  not  know 
much  about  Jesus  Christ  himself,  he  had  been 
acquainted  with  Him  only  for  one  day ;  and 
when  Nathaniel,  having  listened  to  what  he 
had  to  say  about  Him,  offered  an  objection — 
can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? — he 
had  no  argument  or  proof  to  give  in  answer. 
What  he  said  was,  Come  and  see.  Only 
come,  he  said,  look  into  His  face,  hear  Him 
speak,  get  acquainted  with  Him,  and  then 
make  up  your  own  mind.  That  was  no  argu- 
ment ;  but  it  was  more  effective  than  a  whole 
encyclopaedia  of  arguments.  Nathaniel  did 
come  and  see,  and  thus  another  disciple  was 
added  to  the  company  of  Jesus. 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS. 

THERE  is  one  article  of  the  Apostles'  Creed 
whose  intention  is  unknown.  Nobody  can  tell 
how  it  got  into  the  creed  ;  and,  being  there, 
nobody  can  say  what  it  originally  meant.  We 
recite  it  over  and  over,  without  denial,  even 
without  question,  but,  I  will  venture  to  say, 
without  understanding. 

Of  course,  the  creed  from  beginning  to  end 
is  concerned  with  high  matters  of  whose  full 
significance  we  are  all  ignorant.  A  formula 
whose  first  word  is  an  assertion  of  belief  in 
God,  and  which  goes  on  through  the  mysteries 
of  redemption  to  the  life  everlasting,  presents 
not  only  a  series  of  the  articles  of  our  belief, 
but  an  outline  of  a  course  of  study  which  will 
be  sufficient  to  occupy  us  to  all  eternity.  But 
in  the  case  of  the  article  which  I  now  purpose 
to  consider  the  very  subject  of  our  study  is 
uncertain.  Not  only  the  meaning  but  the  in- 
tention of  the  sentence  is  unknown.  I  refer 
to  the  words  in  which  we  express  our  belief 
in  the  communion  of  saints.  What  is  the 
communion  of  saints  ? 

The  Apostles'   Creed,  substantially  in  its 

112 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  113 

present  form,  was  in  existence  at  least  as  early 
as  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century.  It 
appears  at  that  date  in  the  writings  of  Tertul- 
lian,  who  lived  in  the  north  of  Africa,  and  of 
Irenaeus,  who  lived  in  the  south  of  France.  It 
is  the  creed  of  the  church  of  the  West,  as  the 
Nicene  formula  is  the  creed  of  the  church  of 
the  East.  Neither  Tertullian  nor  Irenaeus, 
however,  include  in  their  statement  of  belief 
any  such  article  as  the  communion  of  saints. 
The  first  appearance  of  these  words  is  more 
than  two  hundred  years  later,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century.  That  is,  for  two  hun- 
dred years  the  service  of  the  church  contained 
no  creed  at  all.  The  emphasis  in  that  period 
was  not  on  belief  but  on  behavior.  And  after 
that,  for  two  hundred  years  more,  the  creed 
made  no  reference  to  the  saints.  Indeed,  the 
assertion  of  the  communion  of  saints  is  not 
made  to-day  in  any  part  of  Eastern  Christen- 
dom. The  Greek  Church  says  the  Nicene 
Creed,  in  which  this  phrase  does  not  occur. 

In  the  fifth  century,  then,  and  in  Gaul, — or 
as  we  now  say,  France, — the  words  were 
added.  The  creed  had  not  yet  been  stereo- 
typed. The  churches  were  not  particular  to 
recite  it  always  in  precisely  the  same  form. 
If  they  got  the  general  sense  of  it,  that  was 
enough.  So  that  addition  and  subtraction 


THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

were  both  easy,  and  both  were  taking  place. 
One  day  it  occurred  to  somebody  to  follow 
the  phrase,  "  the  holy  catholic  church,"  with 
the  further  phrase,  "  the  communion  of  saints." 
And  the  congregation  liked  it,  and  wanted  it 
said  again  that  way  next  Sunday,  and  then 
the  neighbors  heard  about  it,  and  then  Nicetas 
of  Aquileia  put  it  in  a  book.  Thus,  with 
general  approval,  but  without  any  formal 
action,  it  found  a  place  in  the  creed. 

Now  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century 
the  words  sanctorum  communionem  had  two 
meanings,  according  as  sanctorum  was  taken 
to  be  a  neuter  or  a  masculine  noun.  The 
words  might  signify  a  participation  either  in 
holy  things  or  in  holy  people.  The  holy  things 
were  the  sacraments ;  the  holy  people  were  the 
saints,  especially  the  saints  above  in  the  joy  of 
heaven.  In  either  case,  the  reference  was  to 
the  church,  for  the  new  phrase  was  not  con- 
sidered as  a  new  article  of  faith.  You  will 
notice  in  the  creed,  as  it  is  printed  in  the 
Prayer-book,  that  the  articles  are  separated 
one  from  another  by  a  colon,  but  that  the 
mark  between  "  the  holy  catholic  church  "  and 
"the  communion  of  saints"  is  a  semicolon. 
These  two  make  a  single  article.  The  com- 
munion of  saints  is  set  in  the  creed  not  by  way 
of  addition  but  by  way  of  explanation.  So 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  115 

that  as  the  Apostles'  Creed  now  stands  three 
assertions  are  made  about  the  church :  it  is 
holy,  it  is  catholic,  and  it  is  the  communion  of 
saints.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  decide 
what  was  in  the  minds  of  the  good  men  who 
first  used  the  new  words.  They  may  have  been 
thinking  of  sacraments,  or  they  may  have 
been  thinking  of  saints,  or  they  may  have 
been  thinking  of  both  together.  What  is  the 
peculiar  privilege  of  members  of  the  holy 
catholic  church,  according  to  the  Apostles' 
Creed  ?  Is  it  that  they  are  permitted  to 
receive  the  sacraments  of  grace  ?  is  it  that 
hereafter  they  will  be  admitted  with  all  the 
blessed  saints  into  glory  everlasting  ?  or  is  it 
one  joy  in  the  present  and  the  other  joy  in  the 
future  ?  Nobody  can  tell. 

Why  should  we  care  ?  These  are  both 
narrow  meanings.  Neither  of  them  satisfies 
us.  They  are  not  only  narrow,  but  they  repre- 
sent the  faults  rather  than  the  virtues  of  the 
holy  catholic  church. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  church  we  are  privi- 
leged to  participate  in  the  sacraments.  We 
are  admitted  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  that  He 
may  dwell  in  us  and  we  in  Him.  And  that  is 
indeed  a  blessing.  But  the  blessing  is  not  in 
the  act  itself  :  it  is  in  the  presence  of  Him  who 
therein  blesses  us,  and  in  the  new  spirit  with 


116      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

which  we  come  out  to  take  up  the  old  life. 
The  church  has  asserted  an  exclusive  pos- 
session of  the  sources  of  spiritual  life.  It  has 
maintained  that  without  the  sacraments  there 
is  no  salvation ;  and  it  has  claimed  to  be  the 
sole  dispenser  of  the  sacraments.  For  hun- 
dreds of  years  it  successfully  preserved  a 
monopoly  of  the  necessities  of  the  Christian 
life.  It  grew  rich  by  selling  the  sacraments. 
And  it  treated  its  competitors  in  a  manner 
which  no  monopoly  to-day  would  dare  to 
imitate  afar  off.  It  controlled  legislation,  and 
carried  on  an  unceasing  and  unswerving  per- 
secution. It  killed  its  rivals.  The  more 
formidable  among  them  it  burned  at  the 
stake.  And  this  it  did  as  the  communion  of 
saints ;  that  is,  as  the  society  whose  members 
were  admitted  to  a  participation  of  holy 
things. 

It  is  true  also  that  the  church  is  not  divided 
by  the  barrier  of  death.  Part  of  it  is  here  on 
earth ;  part  of  it  is  in  paradise ;  but  it  is  all  one 
church.  On  we  go  out  of  the  material  sanc- 
tuary into  the  spiritual,  expecting  to  continue 
there  the  prayers,  the  praises,  and  the  religious 
joys  which  we  have  begun  here.  We  antici- 
pate with  confidence  a  day  when  we  shall 
enter  into  fellowship  with  the  saints.  The 
time  will  come  when  we  shall  know  the  men 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  117 

and  women  whose  books  we  have  read  for  our 
souls'  good,  whose  lives  have  entered  into  our 
life,  and  whose  very  names  make  our  hearts 
warm.  What  a  blessed  thing  it  will  be  to 
have  our  residence  in  a  place  where  there  will 
be  no  clocks  or  almanacs,  where  nobody  will 
ever  be  in  a  hurry,  where  there  will  be  ever  so 
many  more  than  seven  days  in  a  week.  There 
we  may  converse  with  St.  Augustine  without  a 
fear  lest  we  may  be  keeping  him  from  his 
studies ;  and  with  St.  Francis,  without  taking 
his  time  from  his  prayers.  There  we  will  be 
free  from  all  appointments,  emancipated  from 
the  bondage  of  time.  And  we  anticipate  a 
dearer  companionship — the  blessed,  familiar 
fraternity  of  our  personal  friends,  whom  we 
shall  meet  again  after  long  parting,  in  the 
light  across  which  falls  no  shadow  of  death. 
All  this  is  precious  to  our  souls.  But  the  place 
for  it  in  the  creed  is  in  "  the  life  everlasting." 
The  trouble  with  this  interpretation  of  the 
communion  of  saints  as  a  definition  of  the 
church  is  that  it  puts  the  emphasis  too  much 
upon  the  other  world.  It  encourages  that 
misplaced  patience  which  endures  the  ills  of 
this  present  life  in  the  hope  of  a  better  life  to 
come.  These  ills  are  not  to  be  endured :  they 
are  to  be  amended.  The  Christian  virtue 
which  is  needed  in  their  presence  is  not 


118      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

patience ;  it  is  righteous  indignation,  and  a 
militant  spirit,  and  an  earnest  purpose.  Here, 
for  example,  is  a  great  church  in  the  midst  of 
a  sordid  town,  and  priests  and  people  are  daily 
saying  their  prayers  in  it,  and  singing  hymns 
about  the  world  to  come,  and  all  the  time  the 
town  lies  still  in  wickedness.  That  means  a 
wrong  idea  of  the  relation  between  prayer  and 
progress.  It  means  a  false  conception  of  the 
mission  of  the  Christian  Church. 

These  two  meanings  of  the  communion  of 
saints  were  current  in  the  thought  of  the  fifth 
century  when  the  words  were  added  to  the 
creed.  Sometimes  the  phrase  meant  a  par- 
ticipation in  holy  things,  that  is,  the  sacra- 
ments ;  sometimes  it  meant  a  fellowship  with 
holy  persons,  that  is,  with  the  saints  in  the 
world  to  come. 

But  we  are  not  shut  up  to  these  ancient 
meanings.  When  we  have  determined  pre- 
cisely what  was  in  the  mind  of  the  maker  of  a 
sentence  of  the  creed,  we  are  not  obliged  to  read 
the  sentence  just  as  he  read  it,  if  we  can  read 
it  better.  Because  he  meant  a  narrow  thing 
by  it  in  the  fifth  century,  we  need  not  neces- 
sarily mean  the  same  narrow  thing  in  the 
twentieth  century.  Else  the  creed  becomes  a 
barrier  and  blocks  the  way.  The  process  of 
interpretation  is  attended  with  peril :  that  is 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  119 

true.  It  is  not  to  be  entered  into  unadvisedly 
or  lightly.  But  it  must  be  undertaken  ;  other- 
wise one  of  two  results  will  follow  :  the  for- 
mula must  be  abandoned,  or  we  must  compel 
ourselves  to  think  a  lie.  The  right  thing  to 
do,  if  we  can,  is  to  keep  the  formula,  which  is 
both  venerable  and  precious  and  consecrated 
by  the  daily  use  of  long  generations  of  holy 
people ;  but  to  keep  it  close  to  all  the  truth 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  taught  the  church 
in  all  the  ages  since. 

Thus  we  must  deal  with  the  communion  of 
saints.  It  is  a  noble  phrase,  and  is  capable  of 
noble  meanings.  And  these  meanings  are  at 
the  heart  of  the  definitions  of  the  fathers ;  so 
that  they  spoke  more  truly  than  they  knew. 

The  church  is  indeed  a  fellowship  with  holy 
people,  as  they  said,  but  the  holy  people  are 
here  in  the  flesh  on  earth.  The  communion 
of  saints  is  the  Christian  brotherhood,  the  as- 
sociation of  those  who  are  trying  to  be  good  ; 
the  Gemeinde  der  Heiligen,  as  Luther  said. 
The  grammarians  warn  us  that  the  words 
sanctorum  communionem  cannot  be  so  trans- 
lated. But  that  does  not  deter  us  for  a 
moment.  They  must  be  so  translated.  That 
is  what  they  actually  mean  to-day. 

The  church  is  a  holy  church :  that  is,  in  pur- 
pose, in  ideal.  The  people  who  belong  to  it 


120      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

are  called  saints.  No  matter  who  they  are, 
they  are  entitled  saints.  That  is  the  synonym 
of  a  Christian  in  St.  Paul's  epistles.  The 
saints  may  not  have  gone  very  far  along  the 
narrow  way  to  sanctity.  But  they  are  called 
saints,  because  they  have  their  faces  turned  in 
that  direction.  St.  Paul  addresses  a  letter  "  to 
the  saints  which  are  in  Ephesus,"  and  in  the 
course  of  it  he  tells  them  that  they  must  stop 
their  lying  and  their  stealing.  These  people 
were  only  beginning  to  be  saints,  and  had  not 
got  far  enough  along  to  have  mastered  even 
the  most  elementary  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. They  were  not  altogether  respectable, 
but  they  were  saints :  saints  for  the  sake  of 
their  good  intentions,  saints  because  of  their 
honest  purpose,  called  saints  already  in  antici- 
pation of  the  time  when  they  should  be  saints 
indeed. 

And  these  imperfect  persons,  who  were  thus 
striving  after  a  better  life,  were  not  striving  all 
alone.  They  were  members  of  a  society ;  they 
belonged  to  a  brotherhood.  They  were  help- 
ing one  another,  coming  together  to  the  sacra- 
ment of  spiritual  strength,  and  going  out 
together  to  undertake  the  tasks  which  were  too 
heavy  for  one  pair  of  hands.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  rubric  which  forbids  the  cele- 
bration of  the  holy  communion  unless  there 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  121 

are  at  least  two  people  to  communicate  with 
the  minister  ?  It  is  intended  to  preserve  the 
social  aspects  of  the  sacrament,  as  the  service 
not  of  an  individual  only  but  of  a  group  of 
people,  of  the  Christian  brotherhood. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  Christian  Church  came 
into  being,  as  the  fellowship  of  the  faithful,  as 
the  society  of  friends,  as  the  communion  of 
saints.  The  creed  says  that  the  church  is 
holy  ;  that  is,  that  the  supreme  purpose  of  it 
is  the  upbuilding  of  character.  And  then  it 
adds  that  it  is  the  communion  of  saints  ;  that 
is,  that  one  of  the  distinctive  marks  of  Christian 
character  is  brotherliness.  The  church  is  the 
Christian  brotherhood.  It  is  the  blessed  com- 
pany of  these  who  in  the  name  of  Christ  are 
trying  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  world  by  being  brotherly. 

The  church  means  also,  as  they  said  of  old, 
a  participation  in  holy  things.  It  is  the  con- 
fraternity of  the  sacraments.  It  is  the  open 
gate  of  heaven.  The  ancient  definition  needs 
only  to  be  filled  with  brotherly  love.  It  needs 
the  spirit  of  that  great-minded  leader  of  the 
people  to  whom  they  complained  that  certain 
men  in  the  camp,  outside  the  chosen  company, 
were  speaking  in  the  name  of  God,  and  who 
answered,  "  Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  peo- 
ple were  prophets."  Would  God  that  all  the 


122      THE  HUMAN  NATUBE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Lord's  people,  whether  in  the  ancient  organiza- 
tion of  the  church  or  out  of  it,  stood  in 
heaven's  gate.  If  in  the  barest  meeting- 
house, in  the  midst  of  the  strangest  eccentrici- 
ties of  faith  and  worship,  hopelessly  removed, 
as  it  seems  to  us,  from  all  which  we  call  "  the 
church," — if  under  these  unpromising  con- 
ditions, God  is  present,  heaven's  gate  is  open, 
and  souls  are  blessed,  then  God  be  praised. 

Here  is  a  church  out  of  which  men  and 
women  are  seen  coming  with  a  new  light  in 
their  faces.  They  have  been  in  the  presence 
of  the  Eternal ;  they  have  joined  their  voices 
with  angels  and  archangels  and  with  all  the 
company  of  heaven  ;  they  have  stood  with  the 
enrapt  apostles  upon  the  summit  of  the  trans- 
figuration hill.  And  like  the  apostles,  refreshed 
and  strengthened,  they  come  to  undertake 
again  the  common  task.  That  is  a  true 
church.  There  the  people  who  are  trying  to 
be  saints  are  fed  with  food  from  heaven. 

It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  church  to  minister 
to  all  the  needs  of  the  neighborhood,  and  thus 
to  maintain  an  endless  round  of  guilds  and 
clubs  and  schools.  But  the  essential  work  of 
a  church  is  to  open  heaven's  gate,  to  be  the 
place  where  tired  people  shall  find  rest,  and 
the  discouraged  shall  find  confidence,  and  the 
disconsolate  shall  find  comfort,  where  the  per- 


THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS.  123 

plexed  shall  be  directed,  and  the  strong  shall 
consecrate  their  strength.  There,  as  of  old, 
shall  the  angels  of  God  be  seen  ascending  and 
descending,  going  up  the  celestial  stairway 
with  their  arras  full  of  prayers,  and  coming 
down  with  their  arras  full  of  blessings. 

That  is  what  we  need.  Busy  as  we  are  with 
the  exterior  details  of  things,  occupied  of  ne- 
cessity with  matters  material  and  temporary, 
ministering  to  the  minds  and  bodies  of  our 
neighbors,  we  need  to  realize  how  all  this  is 
but  the  lower  part  of  an  infinite  activity  whose 
higher  part  is  in  the  heavens.  The  Father 
works,  as  our  Lord  said,  and  we  work,  and  are 
fellow-laborers  with  God.  We  must  see  life  as 
a  whole  in  order  to  get  that  ennobling  and  in- 
vigorating understanding  of  it.  We  must  come 
away  sometimes  from  the  tumult  and  turmoil 
of  it  all,  and  get  into  the  serene  company  of 
the  saints.  Thus  shall  we  appreciate  the  rela- 
tion of  the  present  moment  to  the  eternal 
future,  and  of  earth  to  heaven.  In  the  early 
church,  they  used  to  tell  people  to  bless  their 
eyes  with  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Lord's 
Supper ;  that  is,  to  touch  their  fingers  to  their 
lips  after  they  had  partaken  of  the  holy  things, 
and  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  before  their  eyes. 
It  was  the  symbol  of  that  new  sight,  with 
which  they  who  have  seen  heaven  open  look 


124      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

about  thereafter  in  the  earth.  It  was  an  ex- 
pression of  the  blessing  of  the  communion  of 
saints. 

This,  then,  is  what  those  words  mean  in 
the  creed.  To  the  men  of  the  fifth  century, 
who  wrote  them  there,  they  meant  either  a 
participation  in  holy  things,  or  a  fellowship 
with  holy  persons:  they  meant  either  sacra- 
ments or  saints.  But  the  sacraments  were 
thought  of  as  an  exclusive  possession,  and  the 
saints  were  all  in  heaven.  To  us  of  the 
twentieth  century,  the  words  mean  more  than 
that.  They  define  the  Christian  Church  as 
the  place  of  brotherhood  and  of  benediction. 
Here  we  meet  the  living  saints ;  here  day  by 
day  we  kneel  at  heaven's  gate. 


THE  KELIGION  OF  A  CHKISTIAK 

Unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ. — 
Eph.  4  :  13. 

THIS  is  the  formula  of  the  religion  of  a 
Christian.  All  our  best  belief  and  all  our  best 
behavior  is  included  in  it.  Everything  is  here 
which  is  needed  both  for  the  instruction  and 
for  the  inspiration  of  a  good  life.  The  heart 
of  the  Christian  religion  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  more  and  more  to  grow  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  His  goodness  is  the 
height  of  the  aspiration  of  the  saints.  That  is 
what  we  all  want :  that  we  may  be  like  Him. 

I  have  especially  in  mind  the  act  of  con- 
firmation. A  company  of  young  people,  most 
of  them  your  sons  and  daughters,  will  present 
themselves  before  the  bishop  in  your  presence 
and  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  will  thus  openly 
declare  their  purpose  to  live  according  to  the 
religion  of  a  Christian.  They  have  outgrown 
the  years  of  their  childhood.  They  have  come 
to  the  time  of  serious  thought,  when  God  and 
the  world  and  they  themselves  are  subjects  of 
reflection.  They  are  perceiving  with  a  new 
clearness  the  everlasting  difference  between 
125 


126      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

right  and  wrong.  They  are  meeting  new 
temptations  in  a  new  way.  They  are  making 
new  resolutions.  Having  lived  thus  far  in  a 
natural  state  of  dependence  and  subordination, 
where  the  sum  of  all  duty  was  to  do  what  they 
were  told  to  do,  they  are  entering  now  into  a 
more  individual  life,  where  they  will  be  ex- 
pected to  look  after  themselves,  to  make  their 
own  rules,  and  to  live  their  own  lives. 

Our  hearts  go  out  to  these  young  men 
and  women,  in  deep  sympathy  and  hope  and 
longing.  We  trust  that  they  are  coming  to 
confirmation,  not  in  any  dull,  conventional 
way, — because  they  are  of  the  usual  age,  or 
because  of  our  desire,  or  because  of  the  ex- 
ample of  their  companions, — but  with  a  high 
resolve,  saying  daily  to  God  in  their  prayers, 
"  O  God,  I  give  myself  to  Thee ;  to  Thee,— 
body,  mind  and  soul, — I  consecrate  myself  ;  O 
God,  forgive  my  sins,  help  me  to  be  better; 
help  me  to  be  a  Christian." 

Confirmation  is  only  a  beginning.  It  has, 
indeed,  a  certain  value  of  its  own.  It  is  a 
prayer  and  a  blessing.  They  who  are  con- 
firmed will  kneel  in  the  chancel,  while  the 
bishop,  putting  his  hands  upon  their  heads 
prays  that  God  will  help  them  to  be  good  men 
and  women ;  and  that  is  much.  But  to  be 
good  men  and  women  is  the  chief  thing.  That 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         127 

is  what  it  is  all  for.  As  the  words  are  spoken, — 
the  words  of  those  who  come  to  be  confirmed, 
promising  that  they  will  do  the  thing  that 
is  right  as  well  as  they  can  all  their  lives  long, 
and  the  words  of  the  bishop  beseeching  grace 
from  God  that  they  may  keep  the  promise, — 
our  thoughts  are  busy  with  the  future.  We 
are  wondering  what  it  will  come  to  in  actual 
fulfilment,  how  the  great  promise  will  be 
kept,  what  it  will  mean  in  a  year,  in  five 
years,  to  those  who  are  now,  with  full  hearts, 
making  it.  Will  they  be  devout  and  faithful 
and  earnest  members  of  the  church?  Will 
they  be  found  in  their  places  Sunday  after 
Sunday,  coming  because  they  are  glad  to 
come  ?  Will  they  be  regular  and  reverent 
partakers  of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  ?  and  as 
the  fruit  of  it  all  will  the}^  be  good,  between 
Sundays,  in  our  sight  who  watch  them  with 
affection  and  anxiety,  and  in  God's  sight,  unto 
whom  all  hearts  are  open,  all  desires  known 
and  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid  ?  Will  they 
grow  up  good  ?  That  is  what  we  will  be  ask- 
ing of  God  and  of  our  own  hearts  during  the 
confirmation  service.  Will  they  approach 
more  and  more  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ  ? 

For  to  be  good  is  the  beginning  and  the 
middle  and  the  end  of  the  religion  of  a  Chris- 


128      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

tian.  The  organization  of  religion  into  a 
church  is  of  importance ;  the  formulation  of 
religion  into  a  creed  is  of  importance ;  and  it 
is  well  to  be  interested,  if  one's  mind  inclines 
that  way,  in  the  questions  of  philosophy  and 
of  administration  which  arise  from  the  en- 
deavor after  the  best  possible  organization  of 
Christian  people  and  the  best  possible  formu- 
lation of  Christian  doctrine.  But  there  is  only 
one  thing  which  is  absolutely  needful,  and  that 
is  character.  The  supreme  thing  is  character. 
There  is  so  little  in  the  gospels  about  either 
the  creed  or  the  church  that  it  takes  a  com- 
mentator with  a  strong  microscope  to  discover 
it :  but  the  whole  New  Testament  is  a  book  of 
good  living ;  its  message  is  one  of  righteous- 
ness ;  the  chief  concern  is  character.  So  the 
young  man  comes  to  the  Master  running,  and 
kneels  down  before  Him.  "  What  good  thing 
shall  I  do,"  he  cries,  "  that  I  may  have  eternal 
life  ? "  He  is  the  type  and  prophecy  of  ear- 
nest youth  coming  to  confirmation.  His  heart 
is  filled  with  fine  enthusiasm;  he  desires  to 
make  the  most  of  himself;  he  looks  ahead 
along  the  way  of  his  life  asking  to  be  guided 
aright.  And  you  remember  what  the  Master 
says  in  answer :  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life, 
keep  the  commandments."  Keep  the  com- 
mandments! The  old,  ten,  plain,  familiar 


THE  EELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         129 

statements  of  the  moral  law.  Do  right ;  be 
good ;  so  shalt  thou  be  saved. 

We  all  know  from  our  own  experience  that 
youth  goes  on  into  maturity  upon  a  road  beset 
with  ambuscades.  On  all  sides  is  temptation. 
So  difficult  is  the  journey  that  few  of  us 
would  be  willing  to  go  back  and  try  it  over 
again.  We  confess,  indeed,  that  we  have  not 
made  a  great  success  of  living:  God  knows 
that  we  are  none  of  us  so  good  as  our  neigh- 
bors think  we  are.  Nevertheless,  we  are  pro- 
foundly grateful  that  we  have  got  through 
even  so  indifferently  well  as  we  have,  and  we 
would  not  venture  it  again  lest  we  should  fare 
worse.  So  that  we  look  at  these  beginners, 
starting  out  over  the  hard  way  of  life,  and 
there  are  tears  in  our  eyes,  of  affection  and  of 
apprehension.  We  say  to  them,  as  the  lesson 
which  our  years  have  taught  us,  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  good  without  trying,  and  trying 
continually,  and  trying  hard.  Now  that  they 
come  by  confirmation  into  full  membership 
with  us  in  this  Christian  society,  we  counsel 
them  to  consider  the  situation  with  great 
seriousness.  Let  them  not  enter  lightly  or  un- 
advisedly into  this  high  estate. 

The  first  resolution  in  the  rule  of  life  of  a 
Christian  is  to  be  honest.  I  mean  an  honesty 
which  is  not  determined  by  the  law,  and  which 


130      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

has  no  relation  to  the  probability  of  being 
found  out,  but  which  is  maintained  for  its  own 
sake  in  the  sight  of  God.  Such  a  sense  of 
honesty  will  forbid  a  Christian  to  take  any- 
thing which  is  not  his  own.  The  catechism 
mentions  "picking"  as  well  as  stealing, 
thereby  applying  the  commandment  to  the 
smallest  matters.  Indeed,  it  is  a  familiar  fact 
of  human  nature  that  dishonesty  begins  small. 
The  man  who  steals,  so  that  the  police  get 
after  him,  had  at  first  only  a  notion  that  to 
take  somebody  else's  property  did  not  matter, 
so  long  as  the  thing  taken  was  worth  little. 
Thus  his  sense  of  honesty  became  confused 
and  weakened,  and  by  and  by  when  a  strong 
temptation  came,  he  fell  into  gross  sin.  I 
have  in  mind  here  the  dangers  of  respectable 
life,  and  the  cases  of  good  men  who  have  gone 
wrong.  The  only  safety  is  to  be  unfailingly 
scrupulous,  to  be  immaculately  honest  in  the 
very  least  things. 

This  applies  also  to  the  taking  of  advantage 
of  other  people,  by  reason  of  their  ignorance, 
or  indifference  or  incompetence.  It  means 
every  variety  of  cheating.  It  enforces  a  per- 
fect fairness  which  will  govern  the  playing  of 
a  game  as  well  as  the  making  of  a  bargain. 
It  determines  the  transaction  of  all  business. 
I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  that  in  the  commer- 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         131 

cial  world  the  fact  that  a  man  is  a  member  of 
the  church  is  not  taken  as  an  assurance  that  he 
is  honest.  It  ought  to  mean  honesty,  but  the 
truth  is  that  deceit  and  fraud  have  ever  been 
besetting  sins  of  religious  people.  The  Phari- 
sees devoured  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pre- 
tense made  long  prayers.  We  ought  to  face 
that  possibility.  We  ought  to  recognize  that 
temptation.  The  good  Christian  will  resolve 
to  be  even  foolishly  fair  in  all  his  dealings 
with  his  neighbors. 

The  second  resolution  in  the  Christian  rule 
of  life  is  to  be  clean-minded.  The  good  Chris- 
tian is  as  particular  about  his  mind  as  he  is 
about  his  face  and  hands.  You  know  what  I 
mean  :  I  do  not  need  to  go  into  details. 

St.  Paul  speaks  of  offenses  of  the  lips,  re- 
ferring especially  to  such  as  contradict  the 
Christian  principle  of  purity.  He  says  that 
there  is  a  kind  of  "  foolish  talking  and  jest- 
ing," which  is  not  "  convenient "  ;  that  is,  not 
becoming,  not  consistent  with  the  character  of 
a  Christian.  Our  Lord  speaks  of  offenses  of 
the  eyes.  If  thine  eye  offend  thee, — that  is, 
if  the  eye  be  an  open  gate  of  attack  on  true 
living,  if  temptation  comes  that  way, — pluck  it 
out.  The  meaning  is  that  we  are  to  deal  very 
severely  with  ourselves.  The  Puritans  did 
that.  They  shut  their  eyes  to  works  of  art 


132      THE  HUMAN  NATUBE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

which  they  found  to  be  perilous  to  their  souls. 
They  set  themselves  stoutly  against  novels  and 
plays  which  in  their  judgment  were  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  life  of  the  spirit.  We  say  that 
they  went  too  far;  and  no  doubt  they  did, 
sometimes.  But  if  they  made  mistakes,  they 
made  them  on  the  safe  side.  They  were 
dreadfully  afraid  of  doing  wrong.  And 
therein,  let  us  be  as  like  them  as  we  can. 
Is  the  picture,  or  the  book,  or  the  play  good 
for  the  soul  ?  Are  we  better  by  reason  of  it, 
or  worse  ?  Does  it  help  or  does  it  hinder  the 
progress  of  our  life  towards  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  ?  Would  He 
like  it?  He  who  sees  the  heart,  would  He 
approve  ?  These  are  questions  which  we 
may  properly  hesitate  to  answer  for  anybody 
else  ;  but  we  have  got  to  answer  them  for  our 
own  selves.  If  the  thing  is  against  your  best 
nature,  stop  it.  No  matter  though  all  the 
arguments  of  grace  and  beauty,  of  art  and 
letters,  and  of  polite  society,  be  for  it,  turn 
you  away,  for  the  safety  of  your  soul.  Emer- 
son said  of  a  famous  book  that  he  was  not 
good  enough  to  read  it ;  as  one  might  say  of 
a  lovely  landscape  in  a  malarious  country,  "  I 
am  not  strong  enough  to  stand  there  and  en- 
joy it." 

The  initial  thing  is  the  clean  mind.     All 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         133 

hideous  sins  which  ruin  human  life  have  their 
beginnings  in  a  thought  of  evil  which  seemed 
foolish  rather  than  wrong.  That  thought 
grew  into  another  that  was  worse,  and  that 
into  a  word,  and  the  word  into  an  act,  and  the 
act  into  the  perdition  of  the  man.  The  thing 
to  do  is  to  guard  the  mind  as  we  guard  the 
lips,  and  to  be  as  resolute  against  thinking 
evil  as  we  are  against  speaking  it  aloud.  "  As 
a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  "  What- 
soever things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely, 
whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report ;  if  there 
be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think 
on  these  things." 

The  third  resolution  in  the  Christian  rule  of 
living  is  to  heed  the  voice  of  conscience.  Con- 
science is  the  voice  whereby  God  speaks  in 
our  hearts.  You  know  that  you  ought  to  do 
this  or  that :  you  have  a  feeling  which  impels 
you  to  it:  then  God  speaks  to  direct  you. 
You  know  that  you  ought  not  to  do  this  or 
that ;  as  you  turn  your  face  or  your  mind  in 
that  direction  you  have  an  uneasy  sense  of 
transgression  :  then  God  is  telling  you  that  it 
is  wrong.  The  good  Christian  is  very  sensi- 
tive to  this  inner  voice,  and  very  obedient  to 
it.  He  has  a  quick  perception  of  the  differ- 


134      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

ence  between  good  and  evil.  There  are  many 
things  which  he  will  not  do,  some  of  which 
seem  innocent  enough,  because  he  knows  that 
he  ought  not.  "  I  ought  not,"  he  says ;  re- 
peating aloud  what  God  has  said  to  him  in  the 
silence  of  his  soul.  "  I  ought  not  to  do  that 
because  it  is  wrong."  We  want  men  and 
women,  and  boys  and  girls,  in  the  Christian 
church  who  have  very  clear  and  strong  con- 
victions concerning  sin. 

Many  of  those  who  come  to  be  confirmed 
have  thus  far  depended  largely  upon  the  con- 
victions of  their  elders.  They  have  kept  from 
evil  not  so  much  because  it  is  wrong  as  be- 
cause it  is  forbidden.  The  time  comes  now 
when  they  must  face  life  for  themselves. 
They  must  make  their  own  decisions.  They 
must  say  "No  "at  the  bidding  of  their  own 
conscience. 

This  is  immeasurably  important,  but  it  is 
all  negative.  We  expect  more  than  that. 
The  conscientious  person  has  what  is  called  a 
sense  of  duty.  He  is  governed  in  what  he  says 
and  does  not  by  convenience,  not  by  pleasure 
only,  not  by  the  current  opinion  of  his  class, 
but  by  his  perception  of  the  will  of  God.  He 
asks,  as  Paul  asked  on  the  Damascus  road, 
"  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  He 
has  a  great  desire  to  please  God.  So  the 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         135 

alternatives  come,  and  he  decides  them  one 
way  or  the  other,  by  their  relation  to  the  mind 
of  God.  Every  day  he  says,  "  I  don't  want  to 
do  this ;  but  I  will,  because  God  wishes  me  to 
do  it."  That  is  what  we  mean  by  strength  of 
character.  The  strong  man  is  ruled  by  his 
ideals,  by  his  convictions;  by  his  high  pur- 
pose, with  all  his  might,  under  all  conditions, 
to  obey  God. 

The  fourth  resolution  which  enters  into  the 
religion  of  a  Christian  is  a  determination  to 
increase  the  happiness  of  life.  I  mean  that 
the  good  Christian  will  not  be  content  with 
the  development  of  his  own  character :  he  will 
be  occupied  not  only  with  the  endeavor  to  be 
good,  but  with  the  endeavor  to  do  good.  He 
will  minister  to  others.  This  is  plainly  what 
Jesus  Christ  did,  who  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto  but  to  minister.  He  gave  even 
His  life  for  the  general  good.  Nobody  is  ap- 
proaching unto  the  measure  of  His  stature 
who  is  not  in  some  way  doing  that  sort  of 
thing. 

That  means,  at  the  least,  the  exercise  of 
constant  politeness  and  courtesy  and  sincere 
consideration  for  other  people's  feelings.  It 
restrains  the  Christian  from  adding  to  that 
heavy  burden  of  unhappiness  which  is  all  of 
human  making.  It  forbids  the  saying  of  any 


136      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

word  or  the  doing  of  any  act  which  will  make 
life  harder  for  anybody  else.  It  forbids 
frowns  and  pride  and  ridicule,  and  every  look 
that  hurts.  It  controls  the  temper. 

That  is  the  least  of  it.  It  means  also  a  con- 
stant watchfulness  for  opportunities  of  service. 
It  impels  to  such  behavior  as  will  manifest 
affection,  regard  for  weakness  and  age,  chiv- 
alry, and  every  form  of  common  usefulness. 
It  sends  young  people  into  society  not  only  to 
get  what  happiness  they  can  for  themselves, 
but  to  contribute  to  the  general  joy.  What 
can  I  do  to  help  my  neighbor  ?  What  use 
can  I  make  of  myself  and  of  my  privileges 
and  possessions  whereby  the  pleasure  of  the 
occasion  shall  be  shared  by  those  who  are 
least  likely  to  enjoy  it  ?  These  are  Christian 
questions,  and  enter  vitally  into  the  religion 
of  a  Christian.  I  am  not  sure  that  our  Lord's 
suggestions  about  dinner-parties  can  be  fol- 
lowed literally  in  the  complex  society  in  which 
we  live :  the  guests  and  the  host  might  be 
alike  uncomfortable.  But  the  social  principle 
which  He  there  laid  down  is  universal  and 
eternal.  Do  not  be  content  to  entertain  those 
only  who  will  in  return  entertain  you.  Be 
kind  and  courteous  and  thoughtful  without 
expectation  of  return,  that  you  may  thus  in- 
crease the  common  stock  of  joy.  Every  day 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN.         137 

be  as  happy  as  you  possibly  can,  and  try  to 
make  others  happy. 

All  this  has  its  immediate  application  in  the 
home,  where  religion  is  most  stoutly  tested, 
and  where  the  grace  of  helpfulness  has  con- 
tinual opportunity.  What  kind  of  a  home  is 
it,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned?  With  what 
voice,  with  what  face,  with  what  degree  of 
selfishness  or  of  unselfishness,  do  you  meet  its 
daily  duties  ?  You  see  that  confirmation  and 
church  membership  are  very  practical  matters. 
They  have  to  do  with  the  homeliest  concerns 
of  the  household.  They  summon  those  who 
enter  into  them  to  ask  themselves  various  ques- 
tions. What  does  my  presence  in  my  home 
mean  ?  When  I  open  the  door  do  I  add  to 
the  anxieties  or  to  the  pleasures  of  the 
family  ? 

These  four  resolutions — to  be  honest,  to  be 
clean-minded,  to  heed  the  voice  of  conscience, 
and  to  increase  the  general  happiness, — are  re- 
lated to  the  religion  of  a  Christian  as  the 
foundation  is  related  to  the  house.  They  lie 
deep  in  the  ground.  They  are  not  the  only 
stones  in  that  wall:  I  have  chosen  them  out  of 
many  others,  not  because  they  are  sufficient  of 
themselves  to  uphold  the  structure  of  a  Chris- 
tian life,  but  because  they  lie  so  close  at  hand, 
and  are  so  homely  and  so  necessary.  It  is  for 


138      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

us,  friends,  who  have  long  been  members  of 
the  church,  to  consider  at  this  season  how  far 
we  ourselves  are  giving  the  youth  of  this  con- 
gregation the  assistance  of  a  good  example. 


THE  KICH  YOUNG  MAN. 

And  when  he  was  gone  forth  into  the  way  there  came  one 
running,  and  kneeled  to  him,  and  said,  Good  Master,  what 
shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life  ?— Mark  10  :  17. 

HE  belonged  to  the  privileged  classes.  The 
incident  is  described  by  three  of  the  evan- 
gelists, and  they  all  agree  that  he  was  rich, — 
he  had  great  possessions;  one  of  them  adds 
that  he  was  a  ruler, — he  had  high  position. 
He  was  young,  too,  and  was  making  plans  to 
live  a  larger  life.  He  was  looking  out  into 
the  world  with  eager  anticipation  and  en- 
thusiasm, making  up  his  mind  what  great 
things  he  would  do. 

The  Master  of  men,  the  moment  He  saw 
him,  loved  him.  There  he  came  running 
and  kneeled  at  Jesus'  feet,  and  the  Master 
looking  down  into  his  expectant  eyes,  loved 
him.  Christ  was  in  sympathy  with  young 
men ;  He  understood  them.  His  intimate 
friends  were  young  men.  The  Christian  mis- 
sion, the  supreme  adventure  of  faith,  the 
purpose  to  win  the  world  and  to  bring  its 
mighty  kingdoms  to  the  feet  of  Christ,  was 
139 


140      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

undertaken  by  young  men.  The  Master  wel- 
comed this  young  man,  holding  out  His 
hands. 

The  man  had  possessions  and  position  but 
he  was  not  therewith  content.  He  was  pro- 
foundly dissatisfied :  dissatisfied  with  himself. 

He  was  living  a  pleasant  life,  but  he  had 
become  aware  that  there  was  a  pleasure  which 
all  his  money  could  not  purchase.  There  was 
a  peace  and  joy  of  which  he  had  faint,  dis- 
tant glimpses  in  his  dreams,  and  which  he  saw 
clearly  shining  in  the  face  of  Christ ;  and  he 
desired  it.  But  the  world  could  not  give  it  to 
him. 

He  was  living  a  good  life.  In  spite  of  the 
manifold  temptations,  which  assail  the  rich  as 
stoutly  as  they  assail  the  poor,  he  was  an  up- 
right, clean,  honest  and  honorable  man.  He 
kept  the  commandments.  His  conscience  was 
congenial  with  the  moral  law.  But  even  this, 
which  is  a  true  source  of  contentment,  did 
not  content  him.  He  felt  that  somehow  he 
lacked  something.  He  perceived  that  there 
was  a  difference  between  his  life  and  the  life 
eternal. 

For  the  word  "  eternal,"  as  he  understood 
it,  is  not  an  adjective  of  time  or  place.  It  is 
an  adjective  of  quality.  The  life  which  he 
desired  was  not  simply  a  life  everlasting,  into 


THE  KICK  YOUNG  MAN.  141 

which  he  might  presently  enter  by  the  gate  of 
the  grave.  He  did  not  look  that  far  ahead. 
He  was  interested,  as  every  healthy  young 
man  is,  in  the  immediate  present.  What  he 
wanted  was  a  heavenly  life,  to-day  and  here. 
Such  a  life  would  be  eternal  in  the  sense  of 
being  in  accord  with  that  which  is  eternal, 
and  thus  independent  of  passing  chances  and 
changes  of  good  and  evil  fortune.  It  would 
be  eternal  because  it  would  be  fitted  to  go  on 
without  serious  interruption  into  the  life  to 
come. 

Here,  for  example,  is  a  house  which  is  an 
impertinence  in  the  landscape.  It  is  so  mani- 
festly cheap  and  temporary,  and  in  its  shape 
and  color  so  out  of  harmony  with  the  ground 
whereon  it  stands,  that  it  is  an  affront  to 
nature.  Here  is  another  house  which  is  akin 
to  all  the  hills  and  fields,  strong  as  the  rocks 
and  apparently  as  lasting,  belonging  to  the 
woods  and  meadows,  brother  to  the  trees,  and 
looking  as  if  God  had  made  it  and  not  man. 
You  remember  old  cathedrals,  over  the  sea, 
which  have  that  eternal  aspect.  The  differ- 
ence between  such  structures  and  the  wooden 
lodging-houses  which  stand  by  the  side  of  the 
country  road  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  small 
station  as  one  looks  out  of  the  car  window, 
is  elemental.  It  is  like  the  difference  be- 


14:2      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

tween  the  respectable  life  which  the  rich 
young  man  was  living  and  the  eternal  life 
which  he  desired  to  live. 

His  question  suggests  that  he  had  already 
learned  that  life  eternal  is  to  be  attained  along 
the  way  of  social  service.  "  What  good  thing 
shall  I  do,"  he  cries,  "  that  I  may  have  eternal 
life  ?  "  It  is  possible  that  the  good  thing  to 
which  he  expected  the  Master  to  direct  him 
was  an  offering  of  sacrifice,  or  a  mortification 
of  the  flesh,  or  some  other  personal  matter; 
but  it  is  more  likely  that  he  awaited  a  social 
counsel  which  should  send  him  on  some  errand 
of  helpful  ministry.  Anyhow,  the  answer 
shows  plainly  enough  that  in  the  mind  of 
Jesus  the  eternal  and  the  social  were  vitally 
connected.  In  order  to  live  a  life  eternal,  it  is 
essential  that  we  live  a  life  fraternal. 

Aspiring  thus  to  do  his  highest  duty,  the 
man  begins  aright.  Straight  he  goes  to  con- 
fer with  Jesus  Christ. 

For  the  heart  of  all  right  social  living  is  the 
spirit  of  Jesus.  Canon  Barnett,  the  founder 
of  Toynbee  Hall,  writing  a  book  full  of  social 
enthusiasm  applied  to  social  betterment,  and 
dealing  in  every  page  with  the  service  of  man, 
entitles  it  the  "  Service  of  God."  The  idea 
throughout  is  that  we  can  serve  man  effect- 
ively only  in  the  name  of  God,  only  in  the 


THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN.  143 

spirit  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  the  con- 
clusion of  long  and  successful  experience. 

Some  have  tried  to  learn  their  social  duty 
and  to  perform  it  by  the  study  of  economics, 
leaving  religion  out.  The  results  may  be  read 
in  the  writings  of  those  economists,  now  hap- 
pily silent,  who  constructed  their  social  theories 
on  the  hypothesis  that  man  is  a  machine,  or  an 
animal ;  that  he  has  a  mouth  and  two  hands, 
and  no  soul. 

Some  have  tried  to  get  a  right  conception  of 
their  social  duty  by  a  study  of  ethics,  some- 
times leaving  religion  out,  and  sometimes 
bringing  in  all  manner  of  queer,  fantastical, 
remote  and  obsolete  religions.  The  result,  so 
far  as  these  imported  creeds  are  concerned,  is 
like  that  which  would  be  gained  by  a  study  of 
the  medical  treatises  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
mediaeval  books  may  amuse  the  student,  but 
they  will  teach  him  absolutely  nothing.  All 
that  is  true  in  them  has  been  brought  forward 
into  modern  practice.  So  with  the  queer 
religions.  They  are  remote  or  obsolete  be- 
cause they  are  in  the  place  in  which  they 
properly  belong.  Everything  that  is  true  or 
helpful  in  them  is  in  the  plain  gospels. 

No;  ethics  and  economics  are  profitable 
studies,  but  what  is  essentially  needed  in  order 
that  we  may  attain  that  social  life,  which  is 


THE  HUMAN  HATUBE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

eternal  life,  is  more  than  a  book,  even  the  best 
book ;  it  is  a  life.  We  need  the  books,  but  the 
one  thing  which  is  supremely  needful  is  that 
we  enter  first  into  the  realized  presence  of 
Jesus.  Unless  we  do  that,  we  cannot  even 
read  the  books  aright.  We  cannot  understand 
the  social  facts.  We  cannot  do  our  social 
duty.  No  man  ever  helped  another  man,  save 
in  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  He  may  not  have 
taken  that  sacred  name  upon  his  lips,  he  may 
not  have  been  aware  what  spirit  he  was  of, 
but  that  was  it.  Wherever  good  intention 
goes  astray,  and  they  who  would  help  their 
fellow  men  do  them  harm  instead,  the  initial 
error  is  to  be  found  in  some  departure  from 
His  precepts,  who  is  the  way  and  the  life. 
The  rich  young  man  came  to  Jesus  run- 
ning, and  kneeled  to  Him.  We  must  do  the 
same.  It  is  the  only  right  beginning  either  of 
social  study  or  of  social  living.  Look  at  it, 
until  you  see  it  with  the  eyes  of  your  soul :  the 
Master,  standing  strong  and  gracious,  and  the 
young  man  kneeling  to  Him. 

Let  us  see,  now,  how  Jesus  deals  with  the 
rich  young  man. 

Immediately,  He  stops  him  and  asks  a  search- 
ing question.  The  man  comes  running,  full  of 
enthusiasm ;  he  kneels  to  Him  in  admiration 
and  reverence ;  and  Jesus  loves  him.  It  might 


THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN.  145 

easily  be  said  that  Jesus  needs  him.  The 
young  man  has  possessions  and  position.  Will 
it  not  be  well  for  the  new  Christian  movement 
to  enlist  this  wealthy  and  influential  recruit  ? 
Will  it  not  be  well,  for  the  general  good,  to 
defer  somewhat  to  this  unusually  desirable 
disciple,  and  make  it  easy  for  him  to  come  in  ? 
Is  not  this  the  kind  of  man  we  want,  young, 
rich,  and  willing  ?  The  little  group  of  fisher- 
men and  peasants,  one  would  say,  may  wisely 
hold  out  hands  of  cordial  welcome  to  young 
Master  Dives.  But  you  see  what  Jesus  does. 
He  meets  the  young  man,  altogether  over- 
looking what  he  has,  asking  only  what  he  is. 
He  deals  with  him  not  as  a  rich  man,  but  as  a 
man. 

This  was  Master  Dives'  first  lesson  in  the 
social  aspects  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
essential  preliminary  to  any  right  social  living 
is  that  Christian  insight  which  looks  through 
all  material  possessions  to  the  man  himself. 
If  we  are  to  do  our  social  duty,  we  must  meet 
our  neighbors  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who  cared 
for  what  people  were,  not  for  what  they  wore. 
A  good  many  artificial  distinctions,  based  on 
dress  and  descent  and  houses  and  lands  and 
face  and  voice  and  occupation  must  be  put 
away  out  of  our  minds  till  they  are  as  clear 
and  open  as  the  mind  of  Christ. 


146      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Jesus  taught  the  rich  young  man  that  riches 
are  of  no  social  account  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

This  lesson,  thus  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
our  Lord,  instead  of  receiving  the  man  imme- 
diately, stopped  him  and  asked  a  question, 
was  followed  by  another  lesson  which  is  indi- 
cated in  the  question  which  He  asked.  The 
young  man  had  begun  politely,  in  the  pleasant 
manner  of  his  kind,  with  a  conventional  word 
of  compliment.  He  had  addressed  Jesus  as 
"  good  Master."  Jesus  says,  What  do  you 
mean  ?  Why  do  you  call  Me  good  ? 

That  is,  on  the  personal  side,  Christ  desires 
allegiance,  but  it  must  be  thoughtful  and  con- 
sidered allegiance.  Whoever  tenders  it  must 
understand  what  he  is  about.  One  came  to 
Him,  upon  another  like  occasion,  saying, 
"  Lord,  I  will  follow  Thee  whithersoever  Thou 
goest."  But  Jesus  answered,  "  Foxes  have 
holes  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but 
the  Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His 
head."  The  undertaking  of  discipleship  was 
to  our  Lord  a  very  serious  matter,  and  He  in- 
sisted that  men  should  look  at  it  attentively 
and  face  all  its  hard  consequences  before  they 
made  their  resolution.  He  never  encouraged 
any  sudden,  impetuous,  emotional  decision. 
He  tested  those  who  came  to  Him  in  that 


THE  KICH  YOUNG  MAN.  147 

spirit,  and  was  not  satisfied  until  He  had  made 
them  think.  There  is  a  tombstone  in  the 
Copps  Hill  burying-ground  at  Boston,  in- 
scribed, "  He  was  an  enemy  to  enthusiasm." 
Our  Lord  was  not  an  enemy  to  enthusiasm. 
"When  He  beheld  this  enthusiastic  young  man, 
He  loved  him.  But  He  felt  the  need  of  car- 
rying enthusiasm  on  into  serious  determina- 
tion. He  was  in  profound  sympathy  with  the 
visions  of  youth ;  with  the  ardor,  the  courage 
and  the  confidence  with  which  men  pass  out 
of  the  life  of  the  student  into  the  life  of  the 
citizen.  He  looked  into  the  eager  eyes  of  this 
young  man  who  was  asking  for  some  great 
good  thing  to  do,  and  loved  him.  But  because 
He  loved  him,  He  stopped  him  with  a  ques- 
tion, that  he  might  weigh  his  words  and  think 
what  he  was  about. 

Also,  on  the  social  side,  if  the  man  were  to 
undertake,  as  he  seemed  to  intend,  a  larger 
service  of  his  fellow  men,  it  must  be  a  reason- 
able service.  He  must  enter  into  it  not  merely 
from  an  impulse  of  the  moment,  but  with  de- 
liberation. In  order  to  be  a  helpful  social 
worker,  he  must  be  a  thoughtful  person.  He 
must  consider  what  he  wished  to  say  before  he 
said  it.  He  must  have  the  habit  of  sincerity 
and  of  accuracy.  Then  he  would  be  likely  to 
consider  what  he  wished  to  do  before  he  did  it. 


148      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

A  good  deal  of  excellently  intentioned  social 
ministry  is  spoiled  by  precisely  the  defect 
which  Jesus  immediately  saw  in  this  young 
man.  The  social  worker  is  full  of  enthusiasm 
and  sympathy  and  energy  and  zeal.  He  enters 
into  the  social  settlement  or  the  municipal 
league  or  the  association  for  reforming  his 
neighbors  in  this  way  or  in  that,  with  a  fervor 
which  sometimes  makes  the  cautious  procedure 
of  his  colleagues  appear  cold  and  calculating. 
He  comes  running,  and  kneels  down  in  the 
presence  of  the  holy  cause,  asking,  What  good 
thing  shall  I  do  ?  But  presently  he  finds  that 
the  work  is  slow  and  hard  ;  it  demands  pa- 
tience ;  it  is  not  romantically  interesting. 
And  the  parable  of  the  seed  growing  quickly 
finds  in  him  another  illustration.  He  gets 
tired  and  discouraged.  Our  Lord  tested  that 
young  man  in  order  to  see  what  spirit  he  was 
of.  He  tried  him  to  find  out  if  he  had  staying 
qualities. 

First,  He  tried  him  according  to  the  law  of 
simple  obedience.  "If  thou  wilt  enter  into 
life,"  He  said,  "  keep  the  commandments." 

That  disappointed  the  young  man  grievously. 
He  felt  like  the  Syrian  general  when  the 
prophet  sent  him  to  take  a  bath  in  the  little, 
narrow,  shallow,  muddy  Jordan.  He  had  ex- 
pected to  be  given  some  spectacular,  heroic 


THE  KICH  YOUNG  MAN.  149 

task ;  he  had  looked  for  some  new,  engaging 
duty ;  and  here  was  nothing  but  the  old  com- 
mandments, every  one  of  which  he  had  known 
by  heart  for  years.  "  Which  ?  "  he  asked  ; 
still  hoping  that  Jesus  might  have  some  hidden 
meaning  in  His  words,  and  might  intend  some- 
thing out  of  the  ordinary.  And  when  he 
learned  that  the  commandments  were  only  the 
old  ten,  he  said  in  a  tone  of  impatience,  "  All 
these  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up."  For 
he  did  not  know  the  truth  which  is  contained 
in  the  allegory  of  the  high  ideals ;  where  the 
explorer  who  is  searching  for  the  high  ideals 
learns  at  last  that  they  are  not  a  range  of  ro- 
mantic mountains,  but  a  series  of  populated 
plains  where  men  are  plowing  and  reaping, 
and  buying  and  selling,  and  women  are  doing 
the  errands  of  the  house. 

The  lesson  is  that  the  social  duty  to  which 
Christ  would  immediately  and  supremely  direct 
us  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  the  distance.  It 
is  close  at  hand.  It  confronts  us  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  our  daily  lives.  It  is  a  fine 
thing  to  engage  in  the  betterment  of  a  city, 
but  there  is  no  training  for  that  great  service 
comparable  to  the  exercise  which  is  to  be  had 
in  the  betterment  of  a  college ;  and  the  place 
where  the  betterment  of  a  college  may  most 
effectively  begin  is  in  a  man's  own  club  and 


150      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

room.  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  work  in  a  social 
settlement,  but  in  the  meantime  every  Chris- 
tian household  ought  to  be  a  social  settlement, 
a  distributing  centre  of  beneficial  influences,  a 
contribution  to  the  righteousness  and  the  hap- 
piness of  the  neighborhood. 

The  essential  thing  is  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  the  common  duties,  whose  importance 
in  God's  sight  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  He  has  made  so  many  of  them.  They 
are  nearest  to  our  hand  by  His  divine  appoint- 
ment, that  we  may  the  more  naturally  do 
them.  To  be  honest  in  the  details  of  the 
smallest  transactions,  to  be  true  in  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  most  familiar  conversations,  to 
have  a  strong,  wholesome  and  masculine  clean- 
ness of  speech  and  of  thought,  to  be  courteous, 
considerate,  cheerful  and  helpful  under  one's 
own  roof ;  in  a  word, — as  our  Lord  said, — to 
keep  the  commandments,  the  old  plain  com- 
mandments, is  to  render  a  social  service  which 
is  not  only  more  acceptable  to  God  but  more 
beneficial  to  men  than, — missing  this, — to  be 
the  president  or  the  vice-president  or  the  secre- 
tary or  the  treasurer  of  twenty  societies  for 
the  reformation  of  one's  neighbors.  The 
initial  thing  which  a  man  owes  to  the  com- 
munity is  to  be  a  good  man  himself.  That  is 
what  Christ  said  to  the  rich  young  man  in  the 


THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN.  151 

gospel ;  and  that  is  what  He  says  to-day  to 
every  college  man,  and  every  other  man. 
The  question  is,  What  good  thing  shall  I  do  ? 
and  the  answer  is,  First  of  all,  be  as  good  as 
you  can. 

Thus  our  Lord  tried  Master  Dives  by  the 
law  of  simple  obedience.  Then  He  tried  him 
by  the  law  of  an  earnest  purpose.  The  young 
man  had  kept  the  commandments,  but  he  was 
not  satisfied.  Nobody  ought  to  be  satisfied 
with  that.  "What  lack  I  yet?"  he  cried. 
And  Jesus  answered,  "  Go,  sell  whatsoever 
thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt 
have  treasure  in  heaven." 

This  He  said  not  because  He  held  that  a 
man  must  be  poor  in  order  to  be  good.  If  He 
had  believed  that,  He  would  have  bidden  the 
young  man  to  destroy  all  that  he  had ;  instead 
of  that  he  was  told  to  give  it  away.  He  was 
to  be  poor,  but  the  poor  were  to  be  rich.  This 
He  said  not  to  the  rich  in  general,  but  to  this 
rich  man  in  particular.  Mary  and  Martha  and 
Lazarus  were  rich.  They  were  so  rich  that 
one  time  Mary  broke  at  Jesus'  feet  an  alabaster 
box  of  very  precious  ointment,  worth  several 
hundred  dollars.  They  were  never  bidden  to 
be  poor.  Neither  were  other  rich  persons 
whose  houses  Jesus  visited.  The  truth  is  that 
while  wealth  and  poverty  are  of  immeasurable 


152      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

moment  to  us,  they  meant  little  to  Him.  It 
seems  incredible,  but  it  is  the  fact  that  a  good 
many  of  the  things  to  get  which  men  are  con- 
tinually making  themselves  miserable,  about 
which  men  are  going  to  war — sometimes  in 
public,  sometimes  in  private, — for  which  men 
are  giving  their  whole  lives  and  putting  their 
immortal  souls  in  pawn,  were  totally  unin- 
teresting to  Him.  Whether  men  were  rich  or 
poor,  He  did  not  care.  It  made  no  difference 
to  Him.  He  did  care  supremely  whether  they 
were  rich  or  poor  in  the  currency  of  heaven. 
And  when  He  saw  that  a  man  was  so  devoted 
to  these  lesser  things  that  he  was  losing  his 
sense  of  the  value  of  better  things,  He  tried  to 
deliver  that  man  out  of  his  temptations. 

So  it  was  here.  The  rich  young  man  was 
profoundly  selfish.  He  was  so  selfish  that  he 
came  to  Jesus  Christ  and  asked  to  be  told 
some  good  thing  to  do  not  for  the  sake  of 
others,  nor  for  the  sake  of  doing  good,  but  for 
the  advantage  of  his  own  soul.  What  good 
thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ? 
The  man  was  thinking  of  himself.  Rich  as  he 
was,  privileged  as  he  was,  with  his  possessions 
and  his  position,  he  had  been  brought  up  that 
way.  There  was  not  in  his  life  between  dawn 
and  sunset  any  day,  the  least  purpose  to  bene- 
fit his  neighbor.  The  man  was  dissatisfied,  he 


THE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN.  153 

knew  not  why.  He  longed  for  something 
which  he  had  not,  but  what  it  was  he  could 
not  tell.  He  knew  that  he  was  not  living  an 
eternal  life,  but  in  absolute  ignorance  he  cried, 
"What  lack  I  yet?"  And  Jesus  told  him 
plainly  what  he  lacked.  He  had  no  earnest 
social  purpose.  Honestly,  in  his  heart,  he  was 
intent  upon  himself.  That  is  what  was  the 
matter  with  him.  And  when  he  was  brought 
to  the  test,  and  it  was  proposed  to  him  to  do 
good  to  his  fellow  men  at  his  own  expense,  he 
saw  it,  and  drew  back.  He  made  the  great 
refusal.  He  was  sad  at  that  saying  and  went 
away  grieved,  for  he  had  great  possessions. 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE. 

And  suddenly  there  came  a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a 
rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the  house  where  they 
were  sitting.  And  there  appeared  unto  them  cloven  tongues 
like  as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them. — Acts  2:2,  3. 

THE  wind  and  the  fire  were  symbols  of 
spiritual  realities.  There  was  a  sound  which 
reminded  those  who  heard  it  of  the  noise  of  a 
rushing  mighty  wind;  and  there  was  a  sight 
which  reminded  those  who  saw  it  of  the  flam- 
ing of  a  hundred  tiny  tongues  of  fire  ;  but  be- 
yond this  comparison,  the  record  tells  us  noth- 
ing. It  is  plain  that  we  stand  here  in  a 
domain  to  which  the  meteorologist  has  no 
access.  The  pentecostal  wind  could  not  have 
been  measured  by  the  instruments  which  tell 
the  speed  and  direction  of  currents  of  air ;  the 
pentecostal  fire  would  not  have  affected  a 
thermometer.  They  were  like  the  halos 
which  glow  about  the  heads  of  saints  in 
pictures,  at  which  nobody  could  light  a  candle. 

In  the  "  Holy  Night  "  of  Correggio,  you  re- 
member how  the  stable  of  the  nativity  is 
lighted  with  the  radiance  which  shines  from 
the  face  of  the  Child.  That  is  what  the 

154 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE.  155 

painter  saw.  Yery  likely  the  shepherds,  who 
had  already  seen  a  celestial  light  in  the  sky,  saw 
it  glowing  again  in  the  stable.  No  doubt,  the 
holy  mother  saw  it.  But  to  a  casual  passer-by, 
or  to  a  stable-boy  coming  in  to  feed  the  cows, 
there  would  have  been  no  light  except  such  as 
glimmered  in  the  lantern.  Probably  the  man 
in  the  street,  hearing  a  commotion  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost  in  the  upper  room, — if  that  was 
the  place, — and  rushing  in,  would  have  missed 
all  sound  and  hearing  of  the  wind  and  fire. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  difference  in  the  de- 
tails of  the  various  descriptions  of  Saul's  ad- 
venture on  the  Damascus  road,  but  all  accounts 
agree  that  none  of  Saul's  companions  saw  or 
heard  what  he  both  saw  and  heard.  To  them 
there  appeared  a  light  and  a  sound ;  to  him 
there  appeared  a  face  and  a  voice.  It  shows 
the  difference  between  eyesight  and  insight. 

On  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  Holy  Spirit 
wonderfully  revealed  Himself  to  the  disciples, 
filled  them  with  a  new  consciousness  of  His  di- 
vine presence,  and  blessed  them.  That  is,  in  the 
midst  of  a  world  which  is  full  of  God,  wherein 
we  live  continually  in  the  sight  of  God,  sud- 
denly this  little  company  of  holy  persons  were 
made  aware  of  God.  Out  of  the  infinite 
silence,  God  spoke  to  them.  And  it  was  as  if 
the  wind  blew  which  swept  across  the  face  of 


156      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Elijah  in  the  cleft  of  the  rock ;  it  was  as  if 
the  fire  blazed  amongst  them,  which  Elijah 
saw  before  he  heard  the  still  small  voice. 
That  is  as  near  as  the  narrator  can  get  to  it. 
The  hearts  of  those  good  men  and  women 
were  stirred  as  if  a  breeze  were  blowing  from 
beyond  the  stars,  and  there  was  a  light  in  their 
faces  such  as  shines  along  the  path  of  God. 

There  are  two  ways  of  describing  an  event, 
one  statistical  and  the  other  symbolical.  They 
are  as  different  as  photography  is  different 
from  painting.  The  statistical  narrative  gives 
us  the  plain  facts  as  they  would  have  been  re- 
flected in  a  mirror,  had  one  been  hanging  on 
the  wall.  The  symbolical  narrative  gives  us 
the  facts  interpreted,  and  to  them  adds  still 
other  facts  of  an  intangible  and  spiritual  sort, 
such  as  no  looking-glass  has  ever  seen,  and  for 
which  there  is  no  descriptive  language  except 
such  as  is  used  by  poets  and  artists. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  two  accounts,  which 
Dean  Stanley  has  significantly  set  side  by  side 
from  the  Book  of  Genesis,  of  the  migration  of 
Abraham.  Here  is  first  the  statistical  narra- 
tive. "  And  Terah  took  Abram  his  son, 
and  Lot  the  son  of  Haran  his  son's  son,  and 
Sarai  his  daughter-in-law,  his  son  Abram's 
wife ;  and  they  wen-t  forth  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan  :  and 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE.  157 

they  came  unto  Haran  and  dwelt  there. 
.  .  .  And  Abram  took  Sarai  his  wife, 
and  Lot  his  brother's  son,  and  all  their  sub- 
stance that  they  had  gathered,  and  the  souls 
that  they  had  gotten  in  Haran  ;  and  they  went 
forth  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan  :  and  into 
the  land  of  Canaan  they  came."  That  is  the 
matter-of-fact  statement  of  what  happened. 
That  is  how  the  thing  looked  to  the  neighbors. 
That  is  what  people  said  about  it  as  they  wa- 
tered their  camels  at  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  But 
there  was  more  to  it  than  that.  Here  is  the 
symbolical  narrative.  "The  Lord  said  unto 
Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from 
thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto 
a  land  that  I  will  show  thee :  and  I  will  make 
of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee 
arid  make  thy  name  great :  and  thou  shalt  be 
a  blessing ;  and  I  will  bless  them  that  bless 
thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee  :  and  in 
thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  You  see  how  much  higher  and 
richer  that  is,  and  in  the  best  sense  truer. 
There  was  an  impulse  in  the  heart  of  Abraham 
driving  him  out.  He  looked  across  the  wide 
plains  into  the  far  future.  He  had  hopes  and 
purposes  of  which  the  men  who  pitched  his 
tent  knew  nothing.  This  is  expressed  by  the 
historian  in  symbol.  He  tells  us  that  God 


158      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

stood  by  the  side  of  Abraham  and  spoke  to 
him.  The  eternal  God,  maker  of  the  universe 
of  suns  and  stars,  spoke  to  this  man  who  dwelt 
among  his  flocks  in  Asia.  Indeed,  He  did. 
The  statement  is  in  the  language  of  poetry, 
but  for  the  fact  which  is  thus  stated, — the  fact 
that  the  impulse  in  the  heart  of  Abraham 
came  from  on  high, — no  other  words  were 
strong  enough. 

So  it  is  in  the  account  of  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost. It  is  very  different  from  the  description 
of  the  shipwreck  in  the  same  book.  The 
shipwreck  is  described  statistically.  Every 
detail  is  set  down  precisely  as  it  happened. 
Any  sailor  of  the  crew,  telling  about  it  after- 
wards, would  have  said  the  same  things.  But 
the  events  of  Pentecost  are  described  symbol- 
ically. That  which  happened  here  was  too 
great  to  be  put  into  the  common  phrases  of 
matter-of-fact  narration.  To  say  simply  that, 
being  there  assembled  and  praying,  the  hearts 
of  the  disciples  were  suddenly  and  wonderfully 
affected  with  an  unusual  sense  of  the  presence 
of  God,  was  not  enough.  The  historian  be- 
comes a  poet.  The  winds  blow  and  the  fires 
blaze.  The  dullest  reader  perceives  that  some- 
thing extraordinary  is  taking  place.  That  is 
the  effect  which  the  writer  intends  to  produce. 
Or,  rather,  that  is  the  effect  which  the  event 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE.  159 

itself  did  actually  produce  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  experienced  it.  They  came  down  out  of 
the  chamber  of  the  Pentecostal  blessing,  and 
declared  that  the  whole  house  had  been  shaken 
by  a  great  wind,  and  that  there  had  been 
tongues  of  fire  in  the  room  on  all  their  heads. 
For  we  have  got  to  put  our  emotions  into  the 
best  words  that  we  can  find.  The  emotions,  if 
they  are  deep  and  strong,  if  they  are  inspired 
of  God,  are  too  great  for  any  words.  How  did 
you  feel  in  that  moment  of  sudden  joy  or  sur- 
prise or  grief,  in  that  swift  happiness  of  attain- 
ment after  long  and  doubtful  waiting,  in  that 
hour  when  the  rapture  of  the  consciousness  of 
God  filled  your  soul?  How  did  you  feel? 
You  cannot  adequately  answer.  St.  Paul  said 
that  he  felt  one  time  as  if  he  had  been  taken 
up  into  the  third  heaven.  That  was  the  best 
sentence  he  could  find  to  hold  his  thought. 
The  men  and  women  of  Pentecost  said  that 
they  felt  as  if  all  the  mighty  winds  of  God 
were  blowing  and  the  fires  of  God  were  blaz- 
ing. That  was  the  best  thing  they  could 
think  of  to  say.  Even  then,  it  did  not  express 
their  sense  of  awe  and  wonder  ;  but  it  had  to 
suffice,  since  there  was  nothing  else  to  which 
they  could  liken  it. 

The  truth  is  that  nobody  knows  what  hap- 
pened in  that  hour  of  exaltation.     It  is  de- 


160      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

scribed  in  comparisons  taken  from  the  material 
world,  but  the  event  itself  was  in  the  domain 
of  the  spirit.  All  this  about  the  wind  and  the 
fire  is  the  endeavor  to  somehow  express  that 
which  was  essentially  unutterable.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  put  into  words  a  spiritual  experi- 
ence which  transcended  speech. 

What  did  they  mean  to  say  ?  They  meant, 
I  think,  to  say  that  there,  as  they  prayed,  they 
became  aware  of  God. 

The  blowing  of  the  wind  was  a  symbol  of 
the  mystery  of  God.  "The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof  and  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh 
and  whither  it  goeth  :  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit."  So  too  is  the  Divine 
Spirit ;  surrounding  us  like  the  air  which  we 
breathe,  as  invisible,  and  as  essential  to  our 
life.  The  burning  of  the  fire  was  a  symbol  of 
the  glory  of  God,  of  the  brightness  and  the 
majesty  of  God ;  and  it  rested  on  their  heads 
in  token  that  the  glorious  and  infinite  God 
was  considering  them,  caring  for  them,  and 
blessing  them. 

A  like  thing  happened,  in  1655,  in  a  country 
town  in  England.  At  Wanstead,  in  Essex, 
William  Penn,  afterwards  the  founder  of  a 
commonwealth,  at  that  time  a  lad  of  twelve 
years,  "  was  suddenly  surprised  with  an  in- 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE.  161 

ward  comfort  and  as  he  thought  an  external 
glory  in  the  room,  which  gave  rise  to  religious 
emotions,  during  which  he  had  the  strongest 
conviction  of  the  being  of  a  God,  and  that  the 
soul  of  man  was  capable  of  enjoying  commu- 
nication with  him.  He  believed  also  that  the 
seal  of  Divinity  had  been  put  upon  him  at  that 
moment,  or  that  he  had  been  awakened  or 
called  upon  to  a  holy  life."  That  was  William 
Penn's  pentecost.  The  wind  did  not  blow,  as 
it  did  at  Jerusalem,  but  the  fire  burned, — the 
same  fire,  meaning  the  same  thing. 

It  is  a  rare  experience,  but  it  has  come 
again  and  again  into  the  life  of  man.  Some 
have  perceived  the  voice  of  God  in  the  rush- 
ing of  a  mighty  wind ;  some  have  seen  His 
face  in  the  blazing  of  a  sudden  fire ;  some  have 
heard  articulate  words  out  of  the  sky ;  some, 
as  they  knelt  in  church  or  in  their  own  rooms, 
have  been  overpowered  by  a  new  sense  of  the 
divine  presence.  I  am  not  concerned  to  in- 
quire whether  these  sights  and  sounds  were 
impressions  made  upon  the  senses  or  upon  the 
soul  only :  there  they  were.  Of  whatever 
nature,  physiological  or  psychological,  there 
they  happened.  St.  Paul,  who  had  passed 
through  one  of  these  experiences,  said  that 
whether  it  was  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body, 
he  could  not  tell.  The  important  thing  is  the 


162      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

fact  of  the  recognition  of  God.  And  of  that 
there  is  no  doubt.  The  men  and  women  of 
pentecost,  and  hundreds  of  other  men  and 
women  on  other  days  and  in  other  places,  were 
made  aware  of  God.  Suddenly  they  per- 
ceived God.  There  He  was  with  them  in  the 
room. 

What  I  am  trying  to  do  is  to  show  you  that 
the  day  of  pentecost  is  in  line  with  all  the 
other  days,  and  that  what  God  did  then  for 
the  apostles  and  the  holy  women  He  will  still 
do  for  us.  Whitsunday  is  the  commemoration 
not  of  a  blessing  which  God  gave  once,  and 
never  gives  again,  but  of  a  constant  blessing 
which  came  then  to  those  whose  hearts  were 
ready  and  receptive,  and  will  come  now  to  any 
one  of  us,  if  we  will  put  ourselves  in  that  posi- 
tion. 

"  Henceforth  my  heart  shall  sigh  no  more, 
For  olden  time  and  holier  shore  : 
God's  love  and  blessing,  then  and  there, 
Are  now  and  here  and  everywhere." 

For  us  too  the  pentecostal  wind  will  blow,  the 
fire  will  burn.  For  the  wind  and  the  fire  are 
but  symbols  of  the  divine  presence. 

The  Whitsunday  saints  were  sure  of  God. 
That  is  what  made  the  difference  between 
that  day  and  all  the  other  past  days  of  their 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIEE.  163 

lives.  Now  at  last,  after  long  blundering  and 
questioning  and  waiting  and  doubting,  they 
were  sure  of  God. 

They  had  lived  in  the  very  presence  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  yet  had  been  unaware  of 
God.  Occasionally,  their  eyes  must  have  been 
opened  to  catch  at  least  a  glimmer  of  His 
presence  ;  but  still,  they  knew  Him  not.  Or, 
if  they  knew  Him,  it  was  but  such  knowledge 
as  is  implied  in  the  acceptance  of  a  general 
belief,  and  in  the  recitation  of  a  common  creed. 
Of  course,  they  knew  of  God's  existence.  But 
they  did  not  know  God  so  that  the  conscious- 
ness of  Him  dominated  all  their  life. 

There  they  were,  good  men,  religious  men, 
the  daily  companions  of  Jesus,  and  yet  un- 
aware of  God.  You  remember  how,  at  the 
very  end  of  all  His  instruction  of  them,  in  the 
midst  of  the  last  lesson,  they  said,  "  Lord, 
show  us  the  Father ! "  And  you  remember 
how,  the  next  day,  they  all  fled.  The  man 
who  is  aware  of  God  does  not  run  away.  No- 
body can  make  him  afraid.  That  is  one  of 
the  signs  of  the  recognition  of  God.  After 
the  day  of  pentecost,  no  apostle  turned  his 
back  on  danger. 

There  they  were,  then,  on  the  morning  of 
that  day,  waiting  for  the  promise  of  the  Fa- 
ther, waiting  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  word 


164:      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

of  Christ.  "  I  have  yet  many  things  to  say 
unto  you,"  He  had  told  them,  "  but  ye  cannot 
bear  them  now.  Howbeit  when  He,  the  Spirit 
of  Truth,  is  come,  He  will  guide  you  into  all 
truth."  And  as  they  waited,  day  after  day, 
meditating  and  praying,  looking  back  over  all 
that  He  had  said  and  done,  trying  to  get  it 
into  their  hearts  and  lives,  asking  God  to  help 
them,  suddenly  the  Spirit  came.  It  was  as 
when  one  studies  a  great  matter  for  a  long 
time  in  vain,  and  one  day  the  meaning  of  it 
flashes  in  upon  the  mind.  That  is  a  coming 
of  the  Spirit.  It  was  as  when  one,  after  long 
deliberation,  reaches  a  decision,  and  every- 
thing is  cleared  up  and  thenceforth  life 
goes  on  along  a  straight  way.  Then  too  the 
Spirit  comes.  There  they  knelt,  praying  their 
prayers,  very  much  as  we  do,  trying  to  realize 
God ;  and  suddenly,  nobody  knows  how, — 
swiftly  and  silently  like  the  operation  of  the 
eternal  forces, — a  great  light  broke  upon  their 
souls.  After  that,  everything  was  different. 
They  lived  on  a  new  earth  under  a  new 
heavens.  The  wind  seemed  to  be  blowing  all 
about  them,  the  fire  seemed  to  be  blazing  on 
their  heads,  and  they  came  out  new  men. 
Thenceforth,  they  were  absolutely  sure  of 
God :  and  they  lived  like  men  who  are  con- 
tinually aware  of  God. 


THE  WIND  AND  THE  FIRE.  165 

God  grant  us  also  the  pentecostal  blessing. 
God  give  us  grace  to  know  Him ;  that  we  may 
live  in  the  continual  consciousness  of  His 
presence.  God  help  us,  who  are  trying  so 
ineffectively  to  live  the  life  of  religion  ;  who 
pray,  but  so  often  with  indifference  ;  and  who 
go  about  in  God's  world,  thinking  of  God  so 
little ;  who  fall  so  often  into  foolish  tempta- 
tions, and  behave  ourselves  so  unworthily  of 
our  Christian  name ;  who  say  the  creed  so 
often  and  realize  it  so  seldom ;  who  are  so  un- 
aware of  God, — God  help  us,  as  He  helped 
the  Whitsunday  congregation  at  the  begin- 
ning. Then  when  we  pray,  we  will  address 
God  as  we  would  speak  to  a  present  friend. 
In  our  daily  tasks,  we  will  increase  our  faith- 
fulness and  diligence  and  joy  by  the  remem- 
brance that  we  are  fellow  laborers  with  God. 
In  our  continual  temptations,  we  will  be  as- 
sisted by  the  assurance  that  God  sees  what  we 
do,  and  hears  what  we  say.  As  we  walk 
abroad,  in  these  perfect  days,  we  will  be  like 
our  parents  in  the  oldest  of  all  beautiful 
stories,  who  beheld  the  Lord  God  walking 
beside  them  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  in 
the  cool  of  the  day.  Only  we  will  not  fear, 
as  they  did ;  but  will  put  out  our  hand  to  take 
His  hand.  Then  shall  the  wind  which  blows 
along  the  summer  road,  and  the  fire  which 


166      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  ON  THE  SAINTS. 

shines  in  the  summer  sun,  be  revelations  of  the 
eternal  God,  as  they  were  that  old  day  in 
Jerusalem.  We  will  be  aware  of  God;  and 
every  common  day  will  be  a  pentecost. 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS 

And  Zaccheus  stood  and  said  unto  the  Lord  :  Behold, 
Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor  ;  and  if  I  have 
taken  anything  from  any  man  by  false  accusation,  I  restore 
him  fourfold.—  Luke  19 :  8. 

THE  Lord  sat  at  the  table  in  the  house  of 
Zaccheus.  He  sat  often  at  men's  tables.  The 
Son  of  Man,  as  He  said  Himself,  came  eating 
and  drinking ;  and  there  is  accordingly  a  great 
deal  in  the  New  Testament  about  eating  and 
drinking.  These  necessary  and  pleasant  acts 
appear  in  these  pages  as  intimately  connected 
with  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  with 
the  Christian  religion. 

As  soon  as  Christ  has  gathered  about  Him 
a  little  group  of  disciples,  they  are  all  invited 
to  dinner,  and  they  accept  the  invitation  :  and 
the  Master  not  only  sits  at  the  table  but  con- 
tributes to  the  feast.  When  He  sees  a  multi- 
tude approaching  in  a  place  remote  from  inns 
or  houses,  His  first  thought  is  one  of  hospital- 
ity :  How  shall  we  provide  bread  that  these 
may  eat  ?  And  He  makes  them  all  sit  down 
in  order  on  the  green  grass  and  feeds  them. 
He  is  continually  illuminating  and  applying 

167 


168      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

His  spiritual  instruction  by  means  of  illustra- 
tions taken  from  the  table.  The  parable  of 
the  great  supper,  the  discourse  at  Capernaum 
on  the  Bread  of  Life,  the  picturing  of  the  joys 
to  come  under  the  figure  of  a  banquet,  will 
occur  to  every  reader  of  the  Bible.  He  in- 
stitutes a  social  meal  as  the  characteristic 
sacred  rite  of  His  religion,  and  assembles  our 
most  holy  memories  and  associations  about  the 
eating  of  bread  and  the  drinking  of  wine. 
To-day  the  most  important  article  of  furniture 
in  a  Christian  Church  is  a  table, — a  supper- 
table,  for  the  common  meal  of  the  Christian 
family.  The  homely  outlines  of  the  table  may 
be  lost  in  the  glories  of  carving  or  hidden 
beneath  embroidered  cloths,  but  it  is  a  table, 
nevertheless. 

We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  our  Lord 
entered  into  the  social  pleasures  of  His  time 
simply  from  a  sense  of  duty,  or  that  He  went 
to  dinner  in  order  to  get  a  good  chance  to 
preach  a  sermon  to  the  host.  He  went  be- 
cause He  liked  to  go.  He  saw,  of  course,  the 
spiritual  opportunities  of  society.  He  knew 
that  in  order  to  speak  to  men  effectively,  it  is 
necessary  first  to  understand  them,  and  then 
to  be  in  sympathy  with  them ;  and  it  is  plain 
that  a  natural  way  to  gain  this  understanding 
and  show  this  sympathy  is  to  meet  men 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEtJS.  169 

familiarly,  sitting  beside  them  at  their  tables. 
But  Jesus  at  the  table  comes  closer  to  our 
common  life  than  that.  He  sanctifies  our 
simplest  and  most  natural  enjoyments.  He 
brings  our  domestic  and  social  interests  within 
the  range  of  religion.  He  teaches  us  that 
whether  we  eat  or  drink  or  whatsoever  we  do, 
we  may  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
He  contradicts  that  narrow  conception  of  re- 
ligion which  accounts  that  praying  is  an  act 
of  religion,  and  that  the  definite  doing  of  a 
Christian  deed  is  an  act  of  religion,  but  that 
here  religion  stops.  True  religion  never  stops. 
It  takes  in  the  whole  of  life.  It  includes  our 
commonest  enjoyments.  To  partake  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  indeed  to  enter  into  a  high 
privilege  of  religion,  but  we  are  also  behaving 
ourselves  as  Christian  persons  when  we  sit 
cheerfully  at  our  own  tables  or  at  the  tables 
of  our  neighbors,  when  we  break  bread  at 
home,  like  the  earliest  disciples,  and  eat  our 
meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart. 

The  Lord  sat  at  the  table  of  Zaccheus  a  self- 
invited  guest.  Zaccheus  had  gone  out  that 
morning  merely  to  see  Him  as  He  passed  by 
in  the  street.  The  idea  of  asking  Him  to  din- 
ner had  not  so  much  as  entered  his  mind. 
Zaccheus  was  a  rich  man,  but  no  respectable 
people  dined  with  him.  It  was  suggested  some 


170      THE  HUMAN  NATUEE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

time  ago  that  men  who  had  made  fortunes  in 
dishonest  or  unjust  ways  should  be  made  to 
feel  the  disapproval  of  society :  that  was  the 
plan  which  was  in  full  force  in  Jerusalem  and 
Jericho.  Zaccheus  had  made  his  money  in  a 
business  which  his  neighbors  detested,  and 
they  showed  him  plainly  what  they  thought 
of  him.  When  in  his  eagerness  "  to  see  Jesus 
who  He  was,"  he  climbed  up  into  a  tree,  being 
short  of  stature,  the  crowd  hooted  at  him. 
At  least,  we  may  guess  that  it  was  from 
some  derisive  call  that  the  Master  learned 
the  publican's  name.  There  he  was,  the  most 
unpopular  citizen  of  Jericho,  looking  down 
out  of  a  sycamore-tree  beside  the  road,  with 
everybody  pointing  to  him  and  shouting  at 
him.  And  when  Jesus  came  to  the  place,  He 
looked  up  and  saw  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
Zaccheus,  make  haste  and  come  down  ;  for  to- 
day I  must  abide  at  thy  house. 

That  shows  how  much  our  Lord  cared  for 
popularity.  In  the  midst  of  this  crowd,  ac- 
claiming Him  and  deriding  Zaccheus,  Jesus 
takes  the  part  of  Zaccheus.  Let  us  under- 
stand it  clearly.  Zaccheus  was  a  publican, 
but  there  are  no  publicans  in  our  part  of  the 
country.  The  name  does  not  mean  much  to 
us.  Let  us  get  at  it  in  this  way  :  Zaccheus  is 
a  contractor,  who  is  notorious  for  his  extor- 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS.     171 

tions ;  Zaccheus  is  a  landlord,  whose  tenements 
are  an  offense  to  all  good  citizens ;  Zaccheus 
is  the  keeper  of  the  worst  saloon  or  gambling 
place  in  Jericho.  That  is  the  kind  of  man  he 
was.  The  good  people  of  Jericho  hated  the 
sight  of  Zaccheus,  and  they  had  reason  to  hate 
him.  It  was  not  all  prejudice.  It  was  not 
simply  the  natural  enmity  of  a  subdued  people 
against  the  man  who  represented  their  masters, 
and  collected  their  masters'  taxes.  Zaccheus 
was  a  robber.  Under  the  cover  of  law,  by 
false  accusation,  as  he  himself  confesses,  he 
took  money  out  of  people's  pockets.  It  is  true 
that  he  was  very  desirous  to  see  Jesus,  and 
that  may  mean  that  already  he  was  looking 
towards  a  better  life ;  the  fact  that  he  made 
haste  and  came  down  out  of  the  tree  and  re- 
ceived Him  joyfully,  would  seem  to  indicate 
that.  Nevertheless,  when  Jesus  looked  up 
and  saw  Zaccheus,  He  saw  a  man  of  whom  He 
probably  knew  nothing  except  that  everybody 
seemed  to  hate  him.  And  He  chose  that  man 
to  dine  with,  on  that  account.  The  great 
spiritual  Master  comes  to  town,  and  declining 
all  courtesies  of  the  clergy  and  chief  citizens, 
He  goes  to  dinner  with  a  man  who  ought  to 
be  in  jail. 

Of    course,    everybody     was     scandalized. 
"  When    they  saw  it,   they  all  murmured." 


1Y2      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

That  is,  they  began  at  once  to  talk,  each  with 
his  neighbor,  and  to  say  how  astonishing  and 
objectionable  it  was.  He  has  gone,  they  said, 
to  be  guest  with  a  man  that  is  a  sinner  !  To 
them  that  was  an  amazing  thing :  to  Him,  it 
was  not  only  natural  but  imperative ;  it  was 
the  only  thing  to  do.  That  was  the  difference 
between  them.  Religion  for  them  was  a  com- 
fortable possession  of  personal  privilege,  with 
which  a  man  might  be  content,  being  approved 
of  God  and  sure  of  everlasting  salvation. 
Religion  for  Him  was  a  divine  impulse,  a 
"  passion  of  compassion,"  a  spirit  of  fraternal 
affection  whereby  whenever  He  saw  anybody 
whom  He  could  help  He  was  irresistibly 
moved  to  help  him.  Jesus  looked  about  in 
every  company  and  went  straight  to  the  person 
who  needed  Him  most.  That  is  what  He  meant 
when  He  said  that  He  came  as  a  physician  to 
minister  not  to  the  well  but  to  the  sick.  He 
came  to  Jericho  as  a  physician,  and  His  eye 
lighted  upon  Zaccheus.  The  Pharisees,  with 
their  satisfied  and  selfish  souls,  could  not 
understand  Him.  The  Pharisees  have  never 
understood  Him. 

It  is  plain  that  we  have  here  two  irreconcil- 
able conceptions  of  religion.  According  to 
one  idea,  religion  is  for  the  privileged ;  they 
are  to  enjoy  it  by  themselves ;  they  are  to  en- 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS.      173 

shrine  it  in  beautiful  churches  where  strangers 
are  not  welcome ;  they  are  to  thank  God  that 
they  are  not  as  other  men  are ;  and  as  for 
these  other  men,  they  are  to  content  them- 
selves with  disapproving  of  them ;  they  will 
not  dream  of  dining  with  them,  or  of  dealing 
with  them  in  any  fraternal  or  even  courteous 
fashion.  According  to  the  other  idea,  religion 
is  possessed  by  the  privileged  in  order  that 
they  may  extend  the  truth  of  it  and  the  bless- 
ing of  it  as  speedily  as  they  may  among  the 
unprivileged  ;  their  hearts  and  their  hands  go 
out  to  those  who  are  less  happy  than  they  are ; 
and  finding  those  whom  they  confidently  be- 
lieve to  be  mistaken,  whether  in  conduct  or  in 
creed,  straightway  they  desire  to  make  friends 
with  them  that  they  may  persuade  them  into 
the  better  way. 

Zaccheus,  being  treated  in  this  friendly 
manner,  was  immediately  persuaded.  And 
Zaccheus  stood  and  said  unto  the  Lord :  Be- 
hold, Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the 
poor  ;  and  if  I  have  taken  anything  from  any 
man  by  false  accusation,  I  restore  him  four- 
fold. Why  did  he  do  that  ?  He  had  awaked 
that  morning  without  a  single  generous  im- 
pulse in  his  soul,  an  avaricious,  keen,  close, 
over-reaching  person,  intent  on  getting  every 
possible  dollar  out  of  his  neighbors,  caring 


174      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

nothing  for  the  poor.  And  here  he  stands,  to 
the  amazement  of  his  friends,  and  probably  to 
the  amazement  of  himself,  and  gives  away 
more  than  half  his  fortune.  What  has  touched 
the  heart  of  Zaccheus  ?  A  fraternal  word.  It 
is  likely  that  no  respectable  person  had  spoken 
pleasantly  to  Zaccheus  for  a  year.  Everybody 
had  treated  him  in  accordance  with  his  bad 
name.  And  the  consequence  was  that  he  had 
gone  on  deserving  his  bad  name  more  and 
more.  Nobody  believed  in  him,  and  he  gave 
nobody  occasion  to  believe  in  him.  Then 
came  Jesus  Christ,  holding  out  His  friendly 
hand,  treating  him  like  an  honest  man,  sitting 
at  his  table,  and  never  preaching  at  him  a 
single  word  of  a  sermon :  and  Zaccheus  was 
moved  profoundly.  And  he  stood  up,  saying 
what  he  did,  and  became  a  new  man. 

That  was  our  Lord's  way.  He  helped  man 
after  man  by  the  influence  of  His  personal 
friendship.  He  was  known  as  the  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners,  of  those  who  had  no 
friends.  He  won  them  into  ways  of  righteous- 
ness by  going  out  of  His  way  to  be  good  to 
them.  They  responded,  because  they  were  so 
made  as  to  respond  to  that  sort  of  appeal. 
That  is  human  nature.  The  parable  of  the  con- 
tention between  the  wind  and  the  sun  as  to 
which  could  most  quickly  persuade  a  traveler 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS.      175 

to  take  off  his  coat,  is  very  old,  but  it  has  not 
even  yet  been  taken  much  to  heart.  "We  try 
to  change  the  minds  or  lives  of  others  by 
abusing  them,  by  punishing  them,  by  scolding 
them,  by  giving  them  hard  names,  by  entering 
into  angry  argument  with  them.  And  we  fail 
always.  We  might  as  well  contradict  the  law 
of  gravitation.  It  is  human  nature  to  stand 
out  strong  and  hard  against  that  manner  of 
approach.  The  will  asserts  itself.  The  per- 
son who  is  in  error  holds  only  the  more  stoutly 
to  his  error.  He  was  in  some  doubt  about  it 
before  you  went  at  him  in  that  belligerent 
fashion,  and  would  presently  have  changed  his 
way  or  his  opinion :  but  you  have  prevented 
that.  You  have  made  a  bad  matter  worse. 

Take  it  in  the  extreme  case  of  such  miscon- 
duct as  sends  a  man  to  prison.  The  old  way, 
the  universal  way  until  very  recent  years,  was 
to  treat  the  prisoner  with  all  possible  severity  ; 
he  was  made  to  suffer  ;  he  was  regarded  as  a 
reprobate  in  whom  there  was  no  likelihood  of 
betterment.  The  result  was  that  he  accepted 
the  opinion  of  his  respectable  neighbors  and 
justified  it  abundantly.  He  endured  his  sen- 
tence, and  came  out  definitely  confirmed  in  an 
evil  life,  worse  than  he  went  in.  To-day  we 
are  trying  the  Lord's  plan  with  Zaccheus. 
First  offenders  charged  with  minor  offenses 


176      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

instead  of  being  thrown  into  jail  are  being 
met  with  kindness  and  consideration.  They 
are  being  set  at  liberty  under  the  watch  and 
word  of  a  wise,  responsible  and  sympathetic 
person  whose  mission  is  to  help  them  out  of 
their  hard  places,  to  give  them  friendly  coun- 
sel, and  to  set  them  in  the  right  way.  This 
new  Christian  wisdom  is  being  brought  more 
and  more  into  the  whole  system  of  treatment 
of  the  delinquent  classes.  It  is  at  the  heart  of 
all  the  new  prison  reform.  It  has  been  dis- 
covered in  the  prisons  that  better  results  are 
gained  by  rewards  than  by  punishments. 
Jesus  Christ  knew  that,  and  exemplified  it  in 
the  case  of  Zaccheus. 

Take  it  in  the  very  different  matter  of  ec- 
clesiastical controversy.  The  Zaccheus  of  this 
instance  is  the  man  who  teaches  what  we  be- 
lieve to  be  both  untrue  and  dangerous.  We 
are  keenly  alive  to  the  necessity  of  putting  a 
stop  to  that  kind  of  teaching.  The  natural 
thing  to  do,  as  it  seems  to  us,  is  to  silence  the 
teacher.  Let  us  assail  him  with  all  possible 
weapons  ;  let  us  inform  him  that  he  is  a  heretic 
and  a  liar  and  a  traitor  to  his  sacred  trusts. 
That  is  an  easy  thing  to  do,  but  the  trouble  is 
that  it  does  not  accomplish  our  purpose.  We 
ought  to  know  that.  The  thing  has  been  tried 
often  enough  in  the  course  of  Christian  his- 


AT  THE  TABLE  OF  ZACCHEUS.      177 

tory,  and  it  does  not  succeed.  It  does  not  suc- 
ceed in  reclaiming  the  heretic  from  the  error 
of  his  ways,  nor  does  it  succeed  in  preventing 
others  from  agreeing  with  him.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  confirms  him  in  his  erroneous  position, 
and  gains  him  an  increasing  number  of  sympa- 
thetic disciples.  The  people  who  employ  this 
method  of  assault  may  know  a  great  deal 
about  theology,  but  they  are  densely  ignorant 
of  human  nature.  What  is  needed  is  fraternal 
feeling  and  patience.  Let  the  error  be  shown 
reasonably,  fairly,  with  large  and  confident 
cheerfulness,  with  some  sense  of  humor,  with 
the  saving  grace  of  imagination,  and  without 
foolish  adjectives.  Give  the  man  a  decent 
chance  to  change  his  mind  with  dignity. 

So  it  is  in  regard  to  matters  much  nearer 
to  us,  social  and  domestic.  Zaccheus  is  in  our 
neighborhood,  or  in  our  family.  Anybody  of 
whom  we  easily  think  ill  is  Zaccheus.  Let  us 
try  the  Christian  experiment  of  thinking  well 
of  him  :  not  of  his  faults,  not  of  his  blunders, 
—that  is  impossible.  I  do  not  mean  any  such 
artificial  affection.  But  of  him,  let  us  think 
well :  that  is,  let  us  assure  ourselves  that 
Zaccheus  is  not  so  bad  as  he  seems,  that  his 
innermost  motives  are  right,  that  the  thing 
which  he  needs  is  such  fraternal  faith  and 
friendliness  as  shall  take  him  out  of  his  defiant 


178      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

attitude,  and  make  him  show  the  good  which 
is  in  him. 

The  truth  is  that  other  people  are  very  like 
ourselves.  We  have  our  faults,  as  God  and 
our  neighbors  know ;  we  make  foolish  blun- 
ders, and  say  and  do  things  for  which  we  are 
ashamed  ;  but  we  mean  well,  and  the  good  in 
us  is  in  majority.  If  we  are  called  very 
sharply  to  account  for  our  mistakes,  we  cannot 
help  resenting  it,  and  we  are  likely  to  continue 
in  the  mistakes  just  to  vindicate  our  independ- 
ence. But  if  we  are  made  cheerfully  to  know 
that  our  friends  disagree  or  disapprove  we  are 
likely,  if  we  are  left  alone,  to  amend  ourselves ; 
and  other  people  are  very  like  ourselves. 

Let  us,  then,  follow  the  Lord's  example. 
Let  us  appreciate  the  predominant  goodness  of 
the  world.  Let  us  believe  in  our  neighbors,  in 
our  employees,  in  our  children.  Let  us  keep 
back  the  sharp  word  which  will  serve  only  to 
defeat  our  purpose,  and  bring  out  another, — 
dull  though  it  be, — which  will  gain  at  the 
same  time  our  purpose  and  our  friend. 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER. 

After  that,  He  appeared  to  James. — 1  Cor.  15 :  7. 

CONCERNING  this  appearance  of  our  Lord  to 
James,  we  have  no  other  notice  than  these 
words.  Of  the  place,  or  time,  or  circumstances 
we  know  nothing.  But  we  do  know  some- 
thing about  James. 

He  was  our  Lord's  brother. 

There  were  four  brothers:  James,  Joses, 
Jude  and  Simon;  and  several  sisters.  The 
carpenter's  house  at  Nazareth  was  full  of  chil- 
dren. Jesus  referred  once  to  the  games  which 
they  played.  They  pretended  to  be  dancing 
at  a  wedding,  or  to  be  crying  at  a  funeral. 
Sometimes  some  of  them  would  be  offended 
and  refuse  to  play.  "Whereunto,"  He  said, 
"  shall  I  liken  this  generation  ?  It  is  like  unto 
children  sitting  in  the  markets,  and  calling 
unto  their  fellows.  And  saying,  We  have  piped 
unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  danced ;  we  have 
mourned  unto  you  and  ye  have  not  wept." 
When  Jesus  took  up  the  little  children  in  His 
arms  He  knew  how  to  do  it  by  experience. 
As  the  oldest  child  He  had  taken  care  of  the 
younger.  Up  to  the  time  when  He  was  six- 

179 


180      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

teen  years  of  age  there  must  always  have  been 
a  baby  in  the  house. 

For  there  is  no  substantial  basis  for  the 
theory  that  Joseph  was  a  widower  when  he 
married  Mary,  and  brought  these  six  or  seven 
children  with  him.  That  was  the  conjecture 
of  men  to  whom  the  monastic  life  was  the  true 
pattern  of  good  living.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  our  Lord  grew  up  in  a  normal 
household,  in  a  large  family,  amidst  the  voices 
of  young  children. 

Of  the  sisters  of  our  Lord,  and  of  His  broth- 
ers Joses  and  Simon,  we  have  no  knowledge. 
Even  tradition  is  silent  regarding  them.  St. 
Paul,  who  had  some  acquaintance  with  our 
Lord's  brothers,  says  that  when  he  knew  them 
they  were  married  and  that  their  wives  went 
with  them  on  their  missionary  journeys.  That 
is  a  pleasant  thing  to  know ;  but  we  cannot 
tell  whether  he  referred  to  all  four  of  the 
brothers  or  only  to  James  and  Jude. 

Jude  is  said  to  have  written  the  epistle 
which  bears  his  name,  in  which  he  describes 
himself  as  the  brother  of  James.  But  the 
name  was  a  common  one,  and  the  tradition  is 
questioned. 

James,  however,  stands  out  a  distinct  figure 
concerning  whom  we  have  much  information : 
most  of  it  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  181 

The  life  of  James  was  divided  into  two 
parts  by  the  event  which  St.  Paul  has  set  down 
in  the  text.  The  only  thing  which  we  are 
told  about  the  first  part  of  his  life  is  that  he 
was  not  in  sympathy  with  Jesus.  This  was 
true  of  all  the  brethren,  and  apparently,  at 
times,  of  the  holy  mother  herself.  For  we 
read  that  as  He  taught  the  people  His  mother 
and  His  brethren  stood  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
crowd,  desiring  to  speak  with  Him,  evidently 
for  the  purpose  of  stopping  Him  and  getting 
Him  away.  For  there,  in  the  presence  of  them 
all  He  declared  His  separation  from  His  family, 
saying,  "  Who  is  My  mother  ?  and  who  are  My 
brethren?"  And  He  stretched  forth  His 
hand  towards  His  disciples,  and  said,  "Behold 
My  mother  and  My  brethren !  for  whosoever 
shall  do  the  will  of  My  Father  which  is  in 
heaven,  the  same  is  My  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  This  is  to  be  connected  with  the 
statement  that  His  friends,  or,  as  the  word 
may  be  translated,  His  kinsfolk,  went  out  to 
lay  hold  on  Him,  for  they  said,  "  He  is  beside 
Himself !  "  That  is  what  James  thought  of 
Him.  Indeed  we  are  informed  with  all  plain- 
ness, and  in  so  many  words,  that  His  brother 
did  not  believe  in  Him.  It  helps  us  to  under- 
stand what  He  meant  when  He  said  that  the 
Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head. 


182      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

He  had  no  home,  because  His  ministry  had 
made  this  separation  between  Him  and  His 
family.  There  were  other  friends  who  gath- 
ered about  Him,  and  gave  Him  their  faith,  their 
allegiance  and  their  love ;  but  James  and  Joses 
and  Jude  and  Simon  had  no  part  in  His  life. 

Naturally,  the  arrest,  the  trial  and  the  exe- 
cution of  Jesus  would  serve  only  to  emphasize 
this  situation.  We  can  easily  imagine  what 
they  said  at  home.  They  lamented  His  bitter 
fate.  His  mother,  loving  Him  with  a  mother's 
love,  stood  beside  Him  as  He  died.  But  they 
all  felt  that  He  had  foolishly  brought  His  fate 
upon  His  head.  He  should  have  stayed  at 
home,  minding  His  own  business,  going  quietly 
to  church  like  other  people,  paying  proper  re- 
spect to  what  the  rabbi  said,  and  keeping  the 
law. 

So  He  died  upon  the  cross,  and  that  was 
logically  the  end.  But  behold,  instead  of 
being  the  end,  it  was  the  beginning.  The 
apostles  meet,  and  the  brethren  of  the  Lord 
meet  with  them.  The  apostles  and  the  breth- 
ren, who  up  to  this  moment  have  been  at 
variance,  are  now  united.  And  presently, 
after  a  few  years,  when  St.  Paul  visits  Jeru- 
salem, he  finds  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  the 
accepted  and  revered  head  of  the  apostolic 
company :  John,  the  disciple  whom  Jesus 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  183 

loved,  and  Peter,  the  disciple  on  whose  con- 
fession of  confidence  the  church  was  founded, 
being  cheerfully  subordinate  to  him.  James, 
Peter  and  John,  he  says,  "  seemed  to  be 
pillars";  but  he  puts  James  first.  The  un- 
believer is  now  the  chief  believer. 

This,  of  course,  is  a  remarkable  evidence  of 
the  resurrection.  It  is  the  more  remarkable 
because  no  use  is  made  of  it  in  the  apostolic 
argument.  We  read  it  between  the  lines. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  that  something 
of  an  extraordinary  nature  happened  to  con- 
vert James.  St.  Paul  tells  us  what  it  was  :  the 
crucified  Lord,  his  brother,  dead  and  buried, 
appeared  to  him.  I  will  not  stop  to  dwell 
upon  the  value  of  this  evidence,  for  I  am  con- 
cerned at  present  with  the  unbelief  rather  than 
with  the  belief  of  the  Lord's  brother.  But 
everybody  must  see  that  this  is  a  singular  and 
noteworthy  witness  to  the  resurrection.  For 
there  are  many  stories  of  appearances  after 
death:  dim  and  vague,  indeed,  are  the  ac- 
counts, like  the  sights  which  they  report, 
sometimes  plain  delusion,  sometimes  the  fan- 
tastic result  of  a  disorder  of  the  mind,  or  of  a 
disease  of  the  nerves,  and  yet  to  be  taken 
seriously  into  account  by  reason  of  the  very 
number,  universality  and  persistence  of  the 
tales.  Commonly,  however,  the  spirit  beats 


184      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

retreat  at  the  approach  of  unbelief.  The  man 
of  hard  sense,  unemotional,  logical,  and  in- 
stinctively incredulous  sees  no  ghosts.  Such  a 
man,  among  the  apostles,  was  Thomas.  But 
Thomas  may  have  been  over-influenced  by  the 
convictions  of  his  friends.  James  had  no 
friends  among  the  believers  in  the  resurrection. 
In  the  nature  of  things,  he  had  disliked  the 
men  who  had  gathered  about  his  brother. 
The  fact  that  they  believed  was  but  a  further 
reason  for  his  unbelief.  That  is  the  way  of 
human  nature.  It  meant  much  to  a  proud 
man  like  James  to  come  forward  into  a 
cornpanjr  of  persons  whom  he  had  alienated 
by  his  bitter  words,  and  say,  "  I  was  mistaken. 
You  who  stood  beside  Him  did  the  thing 
which  was  right.  I  who  showed  Him  no 
sympathy  was  in  the  wrong."  That  was  a 
hard  thing  to  say.  "Why  did  he  say  it  ?  Be- 
cause he  had  seen  Jesus  alive  after  the  death 
upon  the  cross. 

But  I  am  concerned,  as  I  said,  not  with  the 
belief  but  with  the  unbelief  of  James.  How 
was  it  that  a  good  man,  a  man  so  good  that 
after  all  that  had  happened  the  apostles  made 
him  the  head  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem, — 
how  was  it  that  he  lived  for  thirty  years  in 
the  same  house  with  Jesus,  and  did  not  believe 
in  Him  ? 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  185 

When  we  are  told  that  James  and  the 
others  did  not  believe  in  our  Lord  the  meaning 
is  not  that  they  doubted  His  word:  that 
would  have  been  impossible.  Nor  does  it 
mean  that  they  did  not  love  Him :  of  course 
they  loved  Him.  What  it  means  is  that  they 
did  not  approve  of  Him.  They  did  not  like 
the  things  which  He  said  and  did.  And  we 
may  properly  remember  that  in  this  they 
agreed  with  the  most  eminent  and  the  most 
pious  persons  of  that  day.  You  recollect  what 
our  Lord's  own  friends  and  neighbors  did  in 
His  own  town  after  He  had  preached  in  their 
synagogue.  They  rose  up.  these  good  folk 
who  had  known  Him  well  for  a  generation, 
since  they  were  boys  together,  and  proposed 
to  throw  Him  over  the  side  of  the  hill.  The 
mind  of  James  was  the  same  mind  as  that  of 
the  Nazareth  rabbi.  Everybody  whom  James 
knew,  with  but  few  exceptions,  thought  that 
his  brother  was  an  objectionable  person. 

That  may  have  made  no  impression  upon 
James.  He  had  sufficient  reason,  as  it  seemed, 
in  his  own  convictions.  For  we  know  James : 
we  know  what  sort  of  man  he  was.  The  fact 
that  he  acted  as  presiding  officer  at  the 
apostolic  conference  before  which  Paul  ap- 
peared shows  that  he  had  a  strong  personality, 
that  he  inspired  others  with  respect,  that  he 


186      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

had  a  dignified  and  commanding  manner.  He 
decided  the  debate  in  favor  of  Paul ;  that  is, 
he  declared  on  behalf  of  the  apostles  that 
Gentiles  should  be  admitted  to  membership  in 
the  Christian  Church  without  being  compelled 
to  keep  the  Jewish  law.  But  the  debate  con- 
tinued after  the  conference  adjourned.  It  was 
a  question  of  tremendous  importance.  The 
settlement  of  it  defined  the  position  of  the 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ,  whether  they  were  a 
Jewish  sect,  or  an  independent  company  of 
new  believers.  And  James  personally  held 
the  Jewish  opinion.  The  life  of  Paul  was 
made  miserable  by  men  who  followed  him  on 
his  journeys  and  opposed  his  liberal  teachings, 
and  of  these  men  it  is  significantly  said  that 
they  came  from  James.  Moreover,  an  ancient 
and  credible  tradition  asserts  that  James  to 
the  end  of  his  life  kept  the  old  law  to  the 
smallest  particular.  He  attended  the  services 
of  the  temple  and  of  the  synagogue  with 
devout  punctuality.  He  was  a  Christian,  and 
the  head  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  place 
of  its  beginning,  but  he  was  at  the  same  time 
a  Jew. 

That  is,  James,  with  all  his  natural  good- 
ness, was  a  precise,  formal,  and  legalistic  per- 
son. That  was  his  temperament.  He  must 
have  been  like  that  even  in  his  youth.  He 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  187 

was  of  course  brought  up  to  keep  the  common 
law,  and  to  mind  the  rubrics,  and  to  follow 
the  manifold  regulations  of  an  artificial  and 
mechanical  religion.  That  was  the  best  train- 
ing which  Joseph  and  Mary,  good  church  peo- 
ple, knew  how  to  give.  And  James  liked  it. 
That  was  the  sort  of  thing  in  which  he  found 
delight. 

Jesus,  on  the  other  hand,  liked  it  not  at  all. 
Nobody  ever  lived  whose  religion  was  more 
natural,  more  free,  more  unconventional.  The 
difference,  there  in  Nazareth,  between  the  re- 
ligion of  James  and  the  religion  of  Jesus  was 
like  the  difference  between  a  dimly  lighted 
room  whose  air  is  heavy  with  incense  and  the 
top  of  a  high  hill  where  the  wind  blows  in 
the  trees.  And  the  consequence  was,  to  put 
it  with  all  frankness,  that  Jesus  shocked  James 
every  day.  The  Lord's  way  of  looking  at 
things  scandalized  the  Lord's  brother.  Indeed, 
as  we  have  seen,  it  distressed  the  whole  family. 

Then  when  He  came  out  and  said  in  public 
what  He  had  long  said  in  private,  when  He 
confronted  and  contradicted  and  defied  the 
social  ideal  and  the  ecclesiastical  ideal  of  His 
day,  anybody  can  see  how  James  felt.  Every 
impulse  of  his  precise  nature  resented  this  free 
handling  of  matters  ancient,  settled  and  ven- 
erable. Jesus  associated  freely  with  publicans 


188      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

and  sinners:  He  dined  at  a  publican's  table, 
and  took  the  publican  into  the  company  of 
the  twelve  apostles.  James  would  have  cut 
off  three  fingers  rather  than  do  a  thing  like 
that.  Jesus  disregarded  many  of  the  common 
regulations,  paid  no  heed  to  the  ceremonial 
worship  about  which  His  fellow  churchmen 
were  so  punctilious,  and  said  with  all  plainness 
that  it  mattered  little  what  men  ate ;  a  Jew 
might  eat  pork  if  he  chose ;  the  thing  that 
really  mattered  was  not  the  food  which  went 
into  a  man's  mouth  but  the  words  which  came 
out.  It  is  utterly  impossible  for  us  to  under- 
stand how  deeply  that  offended  James.  It 
contradicted  his  most  sacred  prejudices. 

I  suppose  that  Mary  and  Martha  found  that 
it  was  hard  for  them  to  live  together  in  per- 
fect peace :  Martha  with  her  active,  bustling, 
housewifely  ways,  "cumbered,"  as  the  book 
says,  "  with  much  serving  " ;  and  Mary  with 
her  leisurely  habit  of  dreaming  in  the  day- 
time. They  were  very  different.  It  is  to  be 
remembered  for  our  admonition  that  Martha 
was  the  one  who  made  complaint.  We  may 
be  equally  sure  that  at  Nazareth  the  com- 
plaints came  from  James.  How  much  more 
real  is  it  to  us,  and  closer  to  our  common  life, 
than  if  they  had  all  been  perfectly  serene 
saints.  How  it  illuminates  that  hard  saying 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  189 

in  which  we  are  told  that  our  Lord  was 
tempted  in  all  things  like  as  we  are.  They 
who  find  the  art  of  living  with  others  the 
most  difficult  of  arts  may  profitably  remember 
that  our  Lord  encountered  its  difficulty  in  His 
experience  with  His  brother  James. 

So  they  lived  together  and  apart,  and  the 
crucifixion  came,  and  the  resurrection,  and  the 
Lord  was  seen  of  James.  He  sought  out 
James.  There  He  stood  holding  out  His 
blessed  hands  of  reconciliation  and  affection. 
And  James, — we  doubt  not, — James  the  pre- 
cise, the  conventional,  the  conservative,  the 
formal,  fell  down  upon  his  knees  before  Him. 
Even  so,  his  nature  was  not  changed.  He 
was  converted,  but  not  transformed.  Conver- 
sion may  be  a  speedy  process,  as  quick  as  turn- 
ing round ;  but  transformation  takes  a  longer 
time,  and  comes  only  by  prayer  and  patience. 
It  is  not  likely  that  James  ever  understood 
Jesus.  The  formalist  has  always  found  Him 
hard  to  understand.  He  was  of  the  same 
temperament  still,  a  dry,  punctilious,  precise 
person.  But  thenceforward  James  was  a 
Christian.  He  was  a  devoted  disciple  of  Him 
in  whom  he  now  recognized  an  elder  brother, 
in  all  senses,  human  and  divine.  The  Lord 
appeared  to  him,  and  blessed  him,  and  took 
him  just  as  he  was  into  His  confidence. 


190      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

James  is  the  type  of  extreme  propriety.  In 
the  middle  ages  he  was  a  schoolman,  pro- 
foundly interested  in  microscopic  distinctions 
of  doctrine,  an  enemy  of  heretics.  In  the  six- 
teenth century  he  came  to  Massachusetts, 
wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat  and  a  wide 
white  collar,  and  laid  down  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath.  He  was  the  patron  saint  of  the 
eighteenth  century  moralists.  Whatever  is 
unconventional  in  manner,  in  expression,  in 
belief,  in  ritual,  offends  him  still.  He  is  easily 
shocked.  He  cannot  help  it.  He  is  not  at 
present  a  popular  person,  for  ours  is  an  uncon- 
ventional generation,  demanding  freedom  and 
delighting  in  it,  and  liking  the  new  better 
than  the  old.  We  are  resentful  of  precision. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  Lord  took  partic- 
ular pains  to  bring  James  into  the  Christian 
company.  He  was  seen  of  James,  in  a  per- 
sonal conference.  He  knew  that  the  church 
had  need  of  just  that  conservative,  slow, 
cautious,  and  precise  spirit  which  James  repre- 
sented. There  was  need  of  freedom,  and 
enthusiasm,  and  boldness,  and  the  radical 
mind :  St.  Paul  stood  for  all  that.  But  St. 
James  also  had  his  place,  and  has  it  still.  Let 
us  be  very  respectful  to  St.  James ;  disagree- 
ing with  him  at  many  points,  but  recognizing 
and  humbly  imitating  his  profound  earnest- 


THE  LORD'S  BROTHER.  191 

ness,  the  strength  of  his  conviction,  his 
serious  mind,  and  the  goodness  of  his  life,  re- 
membering the  courtesy  and  consideration  of 
the  risen  Christ. 


ONE  FEOM  TEN. 

And  one  of  them,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  healed, 
turned  back,  and  with  a  loud  voice  glorified  God,  and  fell 
down  on  his  face  at  His  feet,  giving  Him  thanks.  —  Luke 
17  :  15. 


men  went  straight  on.  Out  of  the 
ten  only  one  turned  back  to  say,  "  I  thank 
you." 

The  ten  had  been  deserted  of  all  men. 
They  had  been  forbidden  to  live  any  longer 
in  the  society  of  their  friends.  They  had 
been  commanded  to  cry  "  Unclean  !  unclean  !  " 
when  they  saw  anybody  coming  their  way  ; 
warning  the  passer-by,  that  he  might  take  the 
other  side  of  the  road.  They  were  under  the 
ban.  Both  the  priest  and  the  doctor  were 
against  them.  That  is,  the  two  persons  to 
whom  the  sick  and  distressed  turn  naturally 
for  comfort,  they  whose  whole  existence  is  for 
the  purpose  of  ministering  to  their  neighbors  in 
disease  and  pain,  had  shut  their  doors  against 
such  folk  as  these.  There  they  were  in  the 
streets,  forlorn  and  friendless.  And  thus  for- 
saken of  all  men,  thrust  out  by  all  men,  these 
ten  had  consorted  together,  and  had  associated 

192 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  193 

themselves  into  a  society  of  common  sorrow, 
a  fraternity  of  desolation — ten  outcasts,  ten 
beggars,  ten  lepers. 

Then  one  day,  the  ten  beheld  across  a  field 
one  of  whom  they  had  heard  that  He  was  the 
friend  of  those  who  had  no  friends, — the 
friend  of  publicans,  and  of  sinners,  and  even 
of  lepers.  He  was  the  friend  of  lepers. 
He  had  been  known  once  to  show  some 
kindness  to  a  leper.  Some  said  that  it  had 
happened  more  than  once.  He  had  actually 
put  out  His  hand  and  touched  a  leper.  This 
new  teacher,  of  whom  many  strange  things 
were  reported,  had  touched  a  leper  and  healed 
him.  It  seemed  incredible — not  that  He 
should  heal  him,  but  that  He  should  touch  him 
with  His  hand. 

And  then  He  came  along  the  road,  and  the 
ten  saw  Him.  The  lepers  saw  the  friend  of 
lepers.  And  they  joined  their  pitiful  voices 
in  a  cry  to  Him  that  He  would  touch  them 
also,  and  heal  them :  "  Jesus,  Master,  have 
mercy  on  us !  "  And  He  stopped,  and  did  have 
mercy  on  them.  He  sent  them  to  show  them- 
selves to  the  priests.  And  it  came  to  pass  that 
as  they  went  they  were  cleansed.  Then  it  was 
that  nine  of  them  went  straight  on  :  out  of  the 
ten  only  one  turned  back  to  thank  the  healer. 

The  nine  went  on  to  take  up  their  old  life 


194      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

again.  Step  by  step,  along  the  way,  as  the 
bonds  of  their  leprosy  were  loosed,  a  new 
strength  came  into  their  arms,  a  new  light 
shone  in  their  faces,  and  a  new  hope  lifted  up 
their  hearts.  I  cannot  think  that  they  were 
altogether  ungrateful  persons.  That  is  not 
human  nature.  They  could  not  have  looked 
into  the  unexpected  future  which  was  thus 
opening  before  them,  and  into  which  they  were 
going  as  one  goes  out  of  bondage  into  freedom, 
without  a  memory  of  Him  who  had  made  that 
future  possible,  and  a  deeply  grateful  memory. 
Jesus  had  not  passed  out  of  their  thoughts. 
That  is  quite  unlikely. 

The  men  were  not  ungrateful.  They  were 
only  silent.  They  were  grateful  enough  in 
their  hearts  ;  they  were  singing  and  making 
melody  in  their  hearts.  But  nobody  would 
have  known  it,  for  no  note  of  the  songs  got 
into  their  lips. 

This  was  partly  because  they  knew  not  what 
to  say.  Of  all  emotions,  joy  is  the  most  difficult 
to  bring  into  speech.  Sorrow  seeks  expres- 
sion. Think  of  the  notable  scenes  in  which 
the  masters  of  fiction  have  pictured  the  crisis 
of  human  life.  The  best  are  the  pathetic  and 
the  tragic.  Gratitude  is  especially  hard  to 
utter.  It  eludes  the  pen  and  the  tongue.  It 
can  be  seen  in  the  eyes,  but  it  rarely  finds 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  .      195 

adequate  expression.  We  try  in  vain  to  say 
all  that  we  feel.  There  is  much  more  grati- 
tude and  appreciation  in  the  world  than  we 
get  credit  for.  If  we  should  ever  outgrow 
spoken  language  and  for  words  substitute 
thoughts,  so  that  conversation  should  be  car- 
ried on  without  words  as  communication  is  al- 
ready effected  without  wires,  and  mind  should 
speak  with  mind,  there  would  be  no  difficulty 
about  thanksgiving.  There  are  few  emotions 
that  would  gain  more  in  power  of  expression. 
Everybody  who  is  good  to  us  will  know  in  that 
day  just  how  appreciative  we  are. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  chief  reason  for 
the  silence  of  the  men  who  gave  no  thanks. 
They  might  have  said  something.  It  is  not 
likely  that  the  one  who  turned  back  was  very 
eloquent :  he  probably  stammered  and  stum- 
bled in  his  speech.  They  might,  at  least,  have 
fallen  at  the  Master's  feet,  and  thus  even  in 
silence  have  assured  Him  that  their  hearts 
were  full  of  affection  and  of  adoration.  The 
trouble  was  not  so  much  that  they  did  not 
know  what  to  say,  as  that  they  did  not  con- 
sider that  they  needed  to  say  anything.  They 
did  not  think  that  He  who  had  blessed  them 
cared  whether  they  showed  their  gratitude 
or  not.  He  did  care.  His  instant  question, 
"  Where  are  the  nine  ?  "  makes  that  plain. 


196      THE  HUMAN  NATUEE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

It  is  true  that  the  gratitude  which  He  sought 
and  missed  was  not  for  Himself.  "  There  are 
not  found  that  returned  to  give  glory  to  God 
save  this  stranger."  It  was  God  to  whom  He 
would  have  the  glory  given.  If,  however, 
there  were  no  more  to  it  than  that,  it  is  hard 
to  see  wherein  the  nine  failed.  They  went  on 
to  the  priests ;  that  is,  to  the  temple,  where 
the  priests  performed  their  offices.  What  bet- 
ter place  could  they  have  chosen  for  the  gift 
of  their  gratitude  to  God  !  There  in  that  hal- 
lowed sanctuary,  in  the  appointed  services  and 
with  the  appointed  offerings,  let  them  give 
God  the  glory.  Was  not  that  the  natural  and 
proper  thing  to  do  ?  On  they  go  along  the 
road,  obeying  Christ's  command  ;  and  as  they 
go,  with  every  step,  their  leprosy  is  cleansed ; 
and  there  they  are,  well  men.  Then  they  stop 
and  consult  together,  companions  now  in  great 
joy  as  they  had  been  companions  in  distress ; 
and  one  says,  What  shall  we  do  ?  Shall  we  not 
go  back  and  thank  Him?  and  another  says, 
"  No,  we  are  doing  as  He  told  us,  we  are  going 
to  the  priests.  Let  us  give  God  the  glory. 
Let  us  kneel  before  His  altar  in  His  house." 
And  to  this  they  all  agree  save  one,  and  he, 
curiously  enough  is  a  Samaritan ;  that  is,  he  is 
a  person  who  is  out  of  accord  with  priests.  It 
is  notorious  that  the  Jews  have  no  dealings 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  197 

with  the  Samaritans.  The  fact  that  this  Sa- 
maritan was  of  the  number  of  these  ten  shows 
that  their  misery  was  so  great  that  it  over- 
balanced all  their  natural  prejudices.  Nine 
Jews  in  sound  health  would  not  have  tolerated 
the  company  of  a  Samaritan.  Indeed,  as  they 
got  better  they  may  have  begun  to  look  askance 
at  the  stranger  with  whom  in  their  affliction 
they  had  fraternized.  Anyhow,  the  priest 
had  nothing  for  him.  The  others  might  go  on 
to  kneel  before  the  altar  in  the  temple,  he 
would  go  back  to  kneel  in  the  dust  by  the  side 
of  the  road,  and  to  offer  his  thanksgivings  in 
the  presence  of  Him  who  had  healed  him. 
And  this  was  what  Jesus  wanted.  The  man 
came,  and  glorfied  God,  but  in  his  gift  of 
praise  to  God  there  was  a  human,  personal 
element.  He  glorified  God,  the  gospel  tells 
us,  but  he  fell  down  on  his  face  at  Jesus'  feet, 
and  gave  Jesus  thanks.  And  Jesus  liked  that. 

He  liked  the  simple  courtesy  of  it.  He 
showed  on  several  occasions  that  He  set  a  high 
value  on  good  manners.  It  made  a  difference 
to  Him  whether  or  not  He  was  treated  with 
the  consideration  which  is  rightly  due  from 
host  to  guest.  He  saw  in  little  things  symbols 
of  large  realities.  It  pleased  Him  to  have  af- 
fection and  regard  expressed  in  gentle  ways. 

And  He  liked  the  straightforward  directness 


198      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

of  it.  The  man  was  honestly  grateful  and  he 
came  and  said  so.  And  in  that  act  he  gave 
Christ  pleasure.  That  is  the  fact  to  which  the 
narrative  bears  witness,  and  which  we  ought 
especially  to  consider  as  we  read  about  it  on 
such  a  day  as  this.  It  is  natural  for  us  to 
think  of  the  saying  of  prayers  and  the  singing 
of  praises  from  the  point  of  view  of  our  own 
selves.  But  our  Lord's  pleasure  in  this  man's 
frank  gratitude  reminds  us  that  there  is  an- 
other and  divine  side  to  all  this.  He  who  by 
precept  and  by  example  reveals  to  us  the  na- 
ture and  will  of  the  Eternal,  teaches  us  here 
and  elsewhere  that  God  cares :  that  God  has 
pleasure  in  our  prayers  and  in  our  praises : 
that  therein  we  render  some  small  return  to 
Him  for  all  the  joy  with  which  He  fills  our 
lives. 

We  do  thank  God  for  most  of  the  uncom- 
mon blessings.  A  sudden  danger,  a  sharp 
sickness,  brings  us  so  close  to  the  great  reali- 
ties that  God  seems  nearer  to  us  than  usual. 
When  the  danger  is  passed,  or  the  crisis  of  the 
disease  is  reached  and  safely  turned,  we  think 
of  God,  and  the  grateful  feelings  of  our  heart 
find  expression  at  our  lips. 

But  we  ought  to  thank  God  also  for  all  the 
daily  blessings,  for  our  health,  friends,  food 
and  raiment,  and  all  the  other  comforts  and 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  199 

conveniences  of  life,  for  all  the  manifold  mer- 
cies and  loving  kindnesses  of  Him  from  whom 
cometh  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  Christ 
taught  the  truth,  which  was  long  obscured,  but 
in  our  day  is  emphasized  by  clearer  knowledge 
of  the  world  of  nature,  that  our  heavenly 
Father  is  forever  present  in  the  world  and  for- 
ever active  in  it.  We  call  the  laws  of  nature 
by  appropriate  Latin  names,  and  are  tempted 
to  imagine  that  we  understand  them  because 
we  have  thus  named  them.  But  so  are  the 
mountains  of  the  moon  named.  So  are  the 
fixed  stars  named.  So  is  radium,  the  latest  of 
the  mysteries,  given  a  name.  Behind  them  all 
is  God.  What  we  call  natural  law  is  but 
God's  customary  way. 

The  Hebrews  were  very  wise  in  their  poetic 
and  religious  histories,  wherein  they  ascribed 
all  things  to  God's  direct  action.  If  the  army 
lost  the  battle,  God  had  turned  His  face  against 
that  army.  If  the  rain  descended  and  the 
wind  blew,  God  was  in  the  wind  and  in  the 
rain.  It  was  all  profoundly  true.  God  is  in 
all  the  experiences  of  common  life.  All  is  of 
Him,  in  whom  our  life  is  lived. 

Thus  the  homeliest  blessings  come  from  the 
Father  of  mercies  and  the  God  of  all  comfort, 
We  ought  to  be  thankful  to  Him  for  them  all ; 
for  all  the  smallest  joys  of  a  good  year ;  for 


200      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

the  divine  protection  ;  for  our  prosperity  ;  for 
the  fact  that  we  are  alive  to-day,  and  able  to 
be  here  in  the  house  of  God  ;  for  our  escape 
from  a  hundred  ills  which  we  feared  as  the 
weeks  passed,  but  which  did  not  fall  upon  us ; 
for  innumerable  and  blessed  assistances  in 
temptation,  by  reason  of  which  we  are  no  worse 
than  we  are,  thank  God ;  for  daily  joys  past 
counting  up.  Praise  and  thanksgiving  be  to 
God  who  has  poured  His  benefits  upon  us,  in 
our  own  individual  lives. 

Then  we  remember  the  blessings  which  we 
share  with  those  nearest  to  us,  in  the  family. 
Thanksgiving  Day  has  a  distinctively  domestic 
meaning.  It  is  the  festival  of  the  family.  It 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  observed  in  a  hotel,  or 
in  most  boarding  houses,  or  by  anybody  who 
sits  alone  at  dinner.  It  needs  children  and 
relatives,  to  fill  it  with  the  proper  cheer ;  or 
the  presence  of  dear  friends.  It  is  the  home- 
liest of  our  days  of  observation, — homeliest  in 
the  best  sense  of  that  word,  as  being  sacred  to 
the  home,  as  recalling  the  time  when  people 
thought  that  God  had  His  dwelling  in  their 
home,  with  the  hearth  for  His  shrine  and  altar, 
and  the  fire  blazing  upon  it  in  His  sacred 
honor:  and  were  right  about  it.  To-day  we 
worship  the  God  of  the  household,  returning 
to  the  simple  faith  of  those  remote  ancestors 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  201 

of  ours  who  lived  when  every  father  was  a 
priest  and  every  meal  a  sacrament.  To-day 
we  consider  with  gratitude  the  protection  of 
God,  the  good  guidance  of  God,  the  love  of 
God  who  is  the  Father  of  us  all,  revealed  to  us 
in  so  many  ways  under  our  own  roof.  Praise 
and  thanksgiving  be  to  Him  who,  during  this 
past  year  has  poured  His  benefits  upon  us  in 
our  homes. 

This  is  the  most  ancient  of  all  our  holy  days. 
It  is  true  that  it  had  its  specific  beginning  in 
the  experiences  of  our  ancestors  here  upon 
these  shores  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
But  it  antedates  the  passover  :  it  precedes  the 
pyramids ;  it  is  before  history,  even  before 
civilization.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  instincts 
of  primeval  man,  and  was  celebrated  at  the 
gate  of  Eden.  Thanksgiving  Day  is  the  most 
ancient  and  the  most  universal  of  all  our 
festivals.  Therein  our  calendar  agrees  with 
the  sacred  year  of  every  religion.  All  men 
everywhere  in  this  time  of  harvest  have  met 
together  throughout  all  ages,  and  are  still 
meeting  for  the  purpose  which  assembles  us 
to-day,  to  give  thanks  to  God  for  the  ingather- 
ing of  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  For  us  who  go 
back  and  forth  about  our  business  over  paved 
streets  the  agricultural  aspects  of  this  day  are 
in  the  remote  background  of  our  thoughts. 


202      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

We  try  to  return  to  the  sturdy  joy  of  our 
grandparents,  to  whom  the  harvest  was  a 
personal  experience,  and  it  is  like  the  difference 
between  the  symbolic  sheaves  with  which  we 
deck  the  altar  and  the  real  sheaves,  acre  on 
acre,  golden  in  the  sun,  silver  in  the  harvest 
moon,  shining  in  the  fields.  But  the  harvest 
is  essential :  let  us  remember  that.  We  can- 
not live  without  it.  To-day  we  praise  the 
Lord  for  the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth,  for 
the  labors  of  the  husbandman  wherein  he  is  a 
fellow  laborer  with  God,  for  fire  and  heat,  for 
frost  and  cold,  for  the  succession  of  the  seasons, 
and  all  the  divine  elemental  forces.  O,  let 
the  earth  bless  the  Lord :  yea,  let  it  praise 
Him  and  magnify  Him  forever. 

Finally,  as  good  citizens,  we  give  God 
thanks  for  all  the  large  mercies  of  the  year, 
national  and  international,  seeing  God's  great 
working  there;  sometimes  understanding  it 
and  sometimes  not,  but  conscious,  nevertheless, 
and  through  all,  of  His  abiding  presence,  of 
His  patient  dealing  with  the  human  will.  We 
perceive,  as  we  review  the  year,  that  little  by 
little,  swinging  back  yet  coming  on  like  the 
rising  tide,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  invades  the 
world  and  slowly — very  slowly,  but  surely, — 
takes  possession  of  it.  Thank  God  for  that, 
and  for  all  the  good  men  and  women,  who,  in 


ONE  FROM  TEN.  203 

the  face  of  difficulty  and  defeat,  in  our  huge 
misgoverned  cities,  in  our  deserted  villages,  in 
the  perplexities  of  our  vast  problems,  are  bring- 
ing the  good  causes  forward,  in  His  name. 
It  is  His  world  ;  that  is  the  truth  which  makes 
thanksgiving  reasonable.  It  is  His  world, 
made  by  Him,  redeemed  by  Him,  sanctified  by 
Him,  growing  year  by  year  to  fill  the  measure 
of  His  plan.  The  movement  of  the  nations 
is  like  the  flight  of  the  birds,  in  spring  and 
fall — voluntary,  yet  divinely  guided.  And  as 
we  behold  it,  as  we  feel  the  thrill  of  it  in  our 
own  experience,  we  praise  God:  saying  no 
longer,  The  Lord  liveth  which  brought  up  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ; 
but  the  Lord  liveth  which  brought  up  and 
which  led  our  fathers  to  the  shores  of  this  new 
continent,  and  here  established  them  a  nation, 
and  here  prospered  them  and  made  them  a 
great  people ;  the  Lord  liveth  who  to-day  in 
every  land,  in  peace  and  in  war,  is  guiding  the 
peoples  of  the  earth. 

O  ye  children  of  men,  bless  ye  the  Lord. 
O  ye  servants  of  the  Lord,  bless  ye  the  Lord. 
O  ye  holy  and  humble  men  of  heart,  bless  ye 
the  Lord,  praise  His  name,  come  before  Him 
with  thanksgiving,  magnify  Him  forever. 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER. 

Thon  hast  set  all  the  borders  of  the  earth  ;  Thou  hast  made 
summer.— Ps.  74  : 18. 

LET  us  consider  now  some  of  the  elements 
of  a  Christian  vacation. 

The  first  is  recreation.  The  meaning  of 
recreation  is  written  plain  in  the  word  itself. 
It  is  that  which  recreates  us,  giving  us  a  clearer 
mind  and  a  stronger  body.  Simple  rest  goes 
far  towards  doing  that.  To  escape  from  our 
anxieties,  to  put  our  work  behind  us,  to  get  out 
of  hearing  of  the  importunate  demands  which 
prevent  our  peace,  is  both  helpful  and  neces- 
sary. We  ought  to  do  it.  It  need  not  be  a 
selfish  act.  It  is  for  our  good  in  order  that  it 
may  be  for  the  general  good.  It  is  not  merely 
for  his  own  sake  that  the  teacher,  the  minister 
or  the  merchant  takes  a  vacation  ;  it  is  also  for 
the  sake  of  the  school,  the  parish,  and  the  busi- 
ness, all  of  which  need  a  man  at  his  best. 

Indeed,  there  is  a  selfishness  of  self  sacrifice. 
Here  is  one  who  works  and  works  for  the  sake 
of  a  family,  or  of  a  community,  or  of  a  cause, 
reaching  the  limit  of  his  natural  strength  and 
going  consciously  beyond  it,  and  then  breaks 
204 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  205 

down,  falls  into  some  sort  of  sickness.  That  is 
the  poorest  kind  of  social  or  spiritual  economy. 
The  work  which  ought  to  have  gone  on,  stops ; 
and  even  before  it  stop?,  it  is  done  inefficiently ; 
the  worker  has  no  strength  nor  spirit  for  it. 
It  looks  like  self-sacrifice.  People  say,  He 
gave  himself  for  the  good  of  others.  Some- 
times that  is  true.  Sometimes,  under  condi- 
tions which  leave  no  choice,  it  is  the  sincerest 
self-sacrifice.  But  commonly,  it  is  the  sacrifice 
of  the  work  as  well  as  of  the  worker.  A 
recognition  of  the  value  of  rest,  a  reservation 
of  strength  for  future  use,  a  wise  intermin- 
gling of  pleasure  and  play  with  the  earnest  oc- 
cupations of  life,  will  enable  the  prudent  worker 
to  go  on  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year. 
Charlemagne  went  to  bed  regularly  at  noon 
and  slept  for  an  hour,  and  still  had  time  to  ad- 
minister the  affairs  of  the  whole  civilized  so- 
ciety of  his  day  :  there  are  mothers  of  small 
families  who  feel  that  the  demands  upon  them 
are  so  great  that  they  cannot  take  such  rest  as 
that.  The  truth  is  that  both  the  mothers  and 
the  families  would  be  the  happier  for  it. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  the  fourth  command- 
ment. It  is  the  divine  announcement  of  the 
necessity  of  rest.  Once  a  week,  the  com- 
mandment says,  stop  work.  Take  a  good  rest, 
you  and  your  wife,  and  your  family,  and  all 


206      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

the  members  of  your  household.  The  Sabbath 
rest,  it  is  true,  came  to  be  so  interpreted  as  to 
make  the  rest  day  not  only  the  dullest  but  the 
most  difficult  day  of  the  week.  But  that  was 
the  fault  of  the  interpreters  ;  there  is  nothing 
of  it  in  the  commandment.  It  is  the  word  of 
the  considerate  father  of  the  family  of  man, 
who  would  not  have  school  keep  all  the  week, 
nor  the  mills  run  from  Monday  morning  round 
to  Monday  morning.  You  will  be  tempted, 
the  message  meant,  to  take  life  quite  too  seri- 
ously, and  to  work  too  hard  and  too  long. 
Don't  do  it.  Enjoy  yourselves.  Bring  the 
element  of  recreation  into  your  life.  Establish 
and  maintain  holidays,  holy  to  God  and  to 
man,  in  which  you  may  be  freely  and  blessedly 
idle. 

This  is  also  the  meaning  of  our  Lord's  sum- 
mons to  the  apostles,  "  Come  ye  yourselves 
apart  into  a  desert  place,  and  rest  awhile." 
They  were  so  busy  that  they  could  not  be  al- 
lowed to  go  on  without  danger  to  themselves 
and  to  their  work.  Stop  it,  then,  at  once ; 
and  come,  let  us  go  a-rowing  on  the  lake,  let 
us  get  into  the  neighborhood  of  the  cool 
breezes.  On  the  further  shore  are  trees  and 
grass,  and  the  waves  are  playing  with  the 
rocks,  and  there  are  no  people :  there  let  us  lie 
down  in  the  shade  and  rest. 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  207 

"We  will  do  that,  this  summer.  We  will 
enter  with  all  our  hearts  into  the  honest,  inno- 
cent joys  of  outdoor  life.  We  will  have  a 
good  time,  in  the  name  of  God.  We  will  not 
be  ashamed  of  it,  nor  make  apologies  for  it. 
We  will  rejoice  in  it,  as  children  of  our  Father 
in  heaven. 

The  second  element  of  a  Christian  vacation 
is  appreciation.  Appreciation,  I  mean,  of  that 
out-of-door  world  in  which  a  holiday  is  properly 
spent.  It  is  God's  world,  more  directly  and  en- 
tirely than  that  environment  of  buildings  and 
of  books  in  which  we  pass  so  much  of  our 
time.  To  see  it  aright  is,  in  a  deep  sense,  to 
see  God.  To  delight  in  it  is  to  delight  in  God. 
To  enter  into  it  with  sympathy  and  apprecia- 
tion is  to  enter  into  the  realized  presence  of 
God. 

"  For  I  have  learned 
To  look  on  nature,  not  as  in  the  hour 
Of  thoughtless  youth  ;  but  hearing  oftentimes 
The  still,  sad  music  of  humanity, 
Nor  harsh,  nor  grating,  though  of  ample  power 
To  chasten  and  subdue.     And  I  have  felt 
A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts  ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man  ; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit  that  impels 


208      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things.     Therefore  am  I  still 
A  lover  of  the  meadows  and  the  woods 
And  mountains  ;  and  of  all  that  we  behold 
From  this  green  earth  ;  of  all  the  mighty  world 
Of  eye  and  ear, — both  what  they  half  create 
And  what  perceive  ;  well  pleased  to  recognize 
In  nature  and  the  language  of  the  sense 
The  author  of  my  purest  thoughts,  the  muse, 
The  guide,  the  guardian  of  my  heart,  the  soul 
Of  all  my  moral  being." 

That  is  what  we  need,  an  appreciation  of 
the  moral  significance  of  nature,  a  delight  in 
it  as  the  gift  of  God,  as  the  revelation  of  God, 
as  the  visible  manifestation  of  God. 

Our  love  of  God  has  sometimes  a  self-con- 
sciousness about  it  which  takes  away  its  joy. 
We  put  upon  ourselves  a  kind  of  compulsion  to 
love  God.  We  set  about  the  act  of  realizing 
God  and  loving  God  as  if  it  were  a  task. 
This  is  largely  because  we  associate  God  with 
only  a  part  of  life,  with  prayers  and  churches. 
God  is  in  all  life.  We  need  not  urge  ourselves 
into  artificial  affection  for  Him.  What  He 
wants  is  the  love  which  children  give  their 
parents,  about  which  they  do  not  reason  nor 
examine  themselves,  but  which  is  natural,  in- 
stinctive, spontaneous.  Let  us  live  in  the 
natural  world  as  in  the  house  of  God,  our 
Father.  Let  us  see  in  the  beauty  of  it,  in  its 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  209 

forms  and  colors,  in  its  changing  lights,  in  its 
adaptation  to  our  needs,  the  loving  providence 
of  God,  who  careth  for  us.  Let  us  understand 
that  to  enjoy  it  is  to  love  God.  To  look  out 
across  the  lake  at  the  procession  of  the  hills, 
to  watch  the  moving  clouds  by  day  and  the 
moving  stars  by  night,  to  walk  beside  the 
water,  to  sail  over  it,  to  plunge  under  it,  to 
delight  in  the  saltness  and  the  coolness  of  the 
sea,  to  sit  under  the  shadows  of  the  great  trees, 
and  just  to  think  that  all  this  is  given  to  us  by 
the  hand  of  God,  is  to  grow  in  grace,  and  in 
the  knowledge  and  the  love  of  God.  Let  us 
not  anxiously  ask  ourselves  whether  we  love 
God.  Let  us  give  ourselves  up  to  His  blessed 
presence,  whom  the  heavens  declare,  and  the 
firmament  showeth  His  handiwork.  Let  us 
take  it,  and  be  glad  of  it,  going  out  into  it  with 
a  sense  of  possession,  as  the  children  of  God, 
enjoying  ourselves  in  our  Father's  house.  Let 
us  read  in  it  as  in  a  book  of  devotion, — the 
Bible  of  the  hills  and  skies,  written  by  God's 
hand.  Let  us  listen  in  the  stillness  to  the 
anthem  of  the  waters  and  the  fields :  O  all  ye 
works  of  the  Lord,  bless  ye  the  Lord.  Praise 
Him  and  magnify  Him  forever. 

The  third  element  of  a  Christian  vacation  is 
reflection.  The  summer  is  a  time  for  quiet 
thinking.  All  the  rest  of  the  year  we  are  sub- 


210      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

ject  to  interruption.  We  have,  indeed,  that 
stimulus  to  thought  which  comes  from  the  im- 
perative demand  of  the  immediate  moment. 
The  word  must  be  said,  the  thing  must  be  done, 
and  we  are  compelled  to  think  it  out.  But  in 
order  that  we  may  say  the  right  word,  and  do 
the  right  thing,  the  thought  of  the  moment 
must  be  based  upon  a  strong  foundation  of 
serious  and  continued  thinking.  And  in  the 
summer,  if  we  are  wise,  we  will  lay  such  a 
foundation.  We  will  apply  ourselves  in  these 
long  days  of  peace  to  the  consideration  of 
great  principles.  We  will  read  great  books. 
We  will  lay  up  in  stock  a  store  of  strength 
against  the  coming  year. 

For  example,  it  is  excellent  to  spend  a  sum- 
mer in  the  reading  of  history.  Take  one  of 
the  long  histories — Gibbon,  Froude,  Gardiner, 
Green,  Parkman,  Motley,  Fiske — and  read  it 
through.  It  is  significant  that  so  large  a  part 
of  the  Bible  is  occupied  by  books  of  history. 
It  means  that  through  history  we  come  to  a 
knowledge  of  God.  We  see  God  in  the  world 
of  human  society,  and  we  are  thus  prepared  to 
see  God  with  like  plainness  in  our  contempo- 
rary annals,  in  the  events  which  are  recorded  in 
the  daily  newspapers.  Much  that  we  read 
there  needs  the  background  of  the  past  for  its 
interpretation.  The  continual  experience  of 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  211 

the  people  of  Israel  was  uplifted  and  dignified 
by  being  thus  kept  in  living  relation  with  the 
old  time.  Every  common  day  had  its  place  in 
that  splendid  history.  And  the  whole  history 
from  first  to  last  was  ennobled  and  illuminated 
by  the  consciousness  of  God.  The  annals  of 
Israel  were  different  from  those  of  other  na- 
tions, but  a  great  part  of  the  difference  was  in 
the  spirit  in  which  they  were  written.  The 
historians  of  Israel  were  aware  of  the  presence 
of  God  in  all  the  facts  of  human  life.  If  the 
summer  can  bring  us  into  that  same  conscious- 
ness of  the  divine  in  the  life  of  our  own  age, 
and  in  the  progress  of  our  own  community  it 
will  be  a  Christian  summer. 

Excellent,  also,  is  the  reading  of  poetry,  of 
great  poetry.  How  long  is  it  since  we  read 
the  "  Iliad,"  or  the  "  Divine  Comedy,"  or  the 
tragedies  of  Shakespeare,  or  the  Book  of  Job, 
or  "Paradise  Lost,"  or  the  "King  and  the 
Book  "  ?  For  most  of  us,  these  are  undertak- 
ings too  vast  for  our  busy  days.  The  summer 
gives  us  opportunity  for  such  high  privileges. 
Let  us  take  a  poet  with  us  into  our  country 
home,  and  give  him  the  freedom  of  the  hearth 
and  of  the  fields,  and  listen  to  all  he  has  to 
say.  Let  us  read  the  whole  range  of  his  verse, 
till  we  get  into  the  heart  of  his  heart,  and  be- 
hold the  world  out  of  his  eyes,  or  better  out  of 


212      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

our  own  eyes,  taught  by  him  to  see.  Part  of 
the  time  we  will  look  at  the  page,  part  of  the 
time  we  will  look  at  the  sky  and  at  the  hills, 
till  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth  begin 
to  shine  about  us. 

Or  the  summer  may  be  used  for  the  work- 
ing out  of  some  problem,  some  question  of 
ethics  or  of  belief,  some  deep  and  weighty 
matter  of  which  we  find  ourselves  more  igno- 
rant than  we  ought  to  be.  We  will  take  it, 
and  think  about  it.  We  will  carry  it  with  us 
into  the  woods,  or  over  the  water,  or  among  the 
high  mountains,  and  there  meditate  upon  it  with 
that  quietness  of  spirit  and  clearness  of  vision 
which  the  clamor  and  confusion  of  the  im- 
portunate months  obstruct  but  which  are 
among  the  most  precious  blessings  of  the 
summer. 

I  have  spoken  now  of  three  elements  of  a 
Christian  vacation, — recreation,  appreciation 
and  reflection.  A  fourth  element  is  devotion. 
By  this  I  mean  the  religious  life  as  it  is  re- 
lated to  the  services  and  institutions  of  the 
church.  The  privileges  of  the  church  are  to 
the  Christian  what  the  privileges  of  art  are  to 
the  artist,  and  of  music  to  the  musician.  They 
are  the  thing  that  he  wants.  Accordingly,  the 
Christian  in  choosing  a  place  in  which  to 
spend  the  summer  will  take  the  religious  op- 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  213 

portunities  into  account.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  say  to  the  good  Christian  that  he  ought  to 
go  to  church  in  the  country.  He  will  go,  not 
because  he  ought,  but  because  he  desires  to  go. 
It  is  his  pleasure  and  profit.  To  those  who 
call  themselves  Christians,  however,  and  are 
not  so  good  Christians  as  they  should  be,  it 
needs  to  be  said  that  church-going  in  the 
country  even  more  than  in  the  city  is  a  social 
duty,  and  that  they  who  neglect  it  harm  their 
neighbors.  The  Church  in  the  country  suf- 
fers greatly  from  vicious  division,  and  loses 
thereby  in  dignity,  and  in  effectiveness. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  one  of  the  agencies — and 
the  most  potent  of  all  the  agencies — for  the 
uplifting  of  the  community.  The  country  min- 
ister in  most  instances  is  a  faithful  man  who 
is  laboring  at  much  self-sacrifice  for  the  good 
of  the  people.  The  privileged  folk  who  come 
from  the  great  churches  of  the  cities  will 
either  help  or  hinder  him.  If  they  are  honest 
Christian  people,  they  will  help  him.  They 
will  understand  that  their  simple  presence  at 
the  services  encourages  both  the  minister  and 
the  congregation.  It  is  a  small  thing  to  do, 
at  the  beginning  of  a  week  of  leisure  and 
pleasure,  to  spend  a  Sunday  morning  in  the 
village  church.  It  may  not  be  a  beautiful 
church,  and  neither  the  praying  nor  the 


214      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

preaching  may  be  very  good,  measured  by  the 
standards  of  polite  society.  But  He  is  there 
who  promised  His  blessed  presence  wherever 
two  or  three  are  met  together  in  His  name ; 
and  the  devout  soul  will  recognize  Him  and 
rejoice  in  Him.  There  will  be  a  benediction  in 
the  summer  stillness,  and  the  bare  walls  will 
shine  with  celestial  pictures,  and  in  the  voice 
of  the  minister  He  will  speak,  who  cares  little 
for  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom  but  en- 
trusts His  messages  to  holy  and  humble  men 
of  heart.  The  worshiper  will  get  good  as 
well  as  do  good.  Suppose,  however,  that  he 
does  not  get  much  good,  then  let  him  go  to 
church  as  an  intelligent  and  right-minded 
citizen,  performing  an  act  of  courtesy,  of 
social  politeness,  of  considerate  and  gracious 
good  manners,  of  decent  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  one's  neighbors. 

These  reflections  upon  the  Christian  and 
social  duty  of  church-going  in  the  country  are 
applicable  even  when  the  church  is  not  one  of 
our  kind.  It  is  natural  and  right  that  we 
should  prefer  the  service  as  it  is  in  the  prayer- 
book.  The  religious  exercises  of  our  Prot- 
estant neighbors,  wherein  the  sermon  is  of 
chief  importance  and  is  preceded  and  followed 
by  extemporary  prayer,  seems  to  us  cold  and 
unsatisfying :  we  cannot  help  it.  We  crave 


SAINTS  IN  SUMMER.  215 

the  richness,  the  variety,  the  warmth,  the  holy 
associations,  the  uplift  and  impulse  of  a  service 
in  which  the  instinct  of  worship  is  recognized 
and  given  utterance.  But  we  are  not  very 
good  Christians  if  we  are  so  dependent  on  the 
forms  of  the  service  that  we  cannot  get  along 
without  them.  And  we  are  very  childish  and 
foolish  and  narrow  and  unchristian  Christians 
if  we  cannot  kneel  with  our  Christian  brethren 
of  whatever  name  and  join  them  in  approach- 
ing our  common  Father.  Partisanship  is  very 
well,  if  one  belongs  to  the  right  party,  and 
pays  an  honest  allegiance  to  it :  but  patriotism 
is  a  thousandfold  better.  Churchmanship  is 
very  well,  but  Christianity  is  the  essential 
thing.  Above  all  religious  organizations  is 
that  universal  church  over  which  no  pope  nor 
bishop  rules,  and  which  no  society  is  old 
enough  nor  wide  enough  to  contain.  As 
churchmen,  we  will  go  to  "the  church,"  as 
we  say,  if  we  can  find  it ;  but  as  Christians, 
we  will  go  anywhere,  under  whatever  roof, 
into  whatever  service,  Eoman  Catholic,  Bap- 
tist, Unitarian,  Quaker, — it  matters  not,  where 
we  can  find  God  worshiped  in  any  way,  and 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  loved  and  fol- 
lowed. The  only  religious  society  which  is  to 
be  carefully  avoided  by  all  churchmen  and 
Christians  is  the  Ancient  Order  of  Pharisees. 


216      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

The  churchman  who  stays  at  home  on  Sunday 
because  there  is  no  other  house  of  worship  in 
the  village  but  the  Methodist  may  suddenly 
find  himself  a  member  in  good  and  regular 
standing  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Pharisees. 

Kecreation,  appreciation,  reflection,  and  de- 
votion will  admit  us  into  the  high  privilege  of 
a  Christian  summer.  Out  of  such  a  vacation, 
spent  in  the  society  of  nature,  of  noble  books, 
of  our  neighbors  and  of  God,  we  ought  to 
come  back  strong  and  sound  to  resume  our 
work  and  do  it  better.  May  God  bless  it  to 
our  needs,  the  happiness  of  it,  the  health  of  it, 
the  occupations  of  it,  all  its  days  of  sun  and 
of  storm,  all  its  experiences.  May  He  thereby 
make  us  better  men  and  women,  better  Chris- 
tians, wiser  and  happier  and  holier.  Let  us 
not  say  by  and  by  in  the  words  of  the  prophet, 
"  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and 
we  are  not  saved."  Let  us  rather  say  in  the 
words  of  the  psalmist,  "  Thy  righteousness 
standeth  like  the  strong  mountains  :  Thy  judg- 
ments are  like  the  great  deep."  "  Holy,  holy, 
holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  heaven  and  earth 
are  full  of  Thy  glory.  Glory  be  to  Thee,  O 
Lord  Most  High." 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED. 

One  of  His  disciples,  whom  Jesus  loved. — John  13:  23. 

ST.  JOHN  the  apostle  stood  at  the  top  of  a 
profession  in  which  all  good  people  are  en- 
gaged. He  was  a  saint;  to  which  excellent 
estate  we  are  all  called.  It  may  well  be  of 
interest  and  profit  to  us,  disciples  like  him  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  members  as  he  was  of  the 
Brotherhood  and  Sisterhood  of  the  Blessed 
Life,  to  consider  how  this  our  neighbor,  who 
in  his  boyhood  caught  fish  for  a  living  in  the 
Lake  of  Galilee,  became  so  eminent  a  person. 
Think  of  it!  a  sun-browned  fisherman,  who 
plied  his  homely  trade  in  the  waters  of  a 
Syrian  pond,  has  gained  a  name  greater  than 
that  of  Alexander  or  of  Caesar.  In  countless 
cities,  under  all  the  skies  of  the  planet,  conse- 
crated buildings,  costly  and  beautiful,  bear 
his  name.  For  now  these  many  centuries, 
words  of  his  writings  have  stirred  the  hearts  of 
the  best  men  and  women  of  the  world,  and 
have  been  an  encouragement  in  defeat,  a  com- 
fort in  trouble,  a  shield  and  spear  in  spiritual 
conflict,  an  enrichment  of  life,  a  fountain  of 
pure  joy.  Add  together  the  intellectual  and 

217 


218      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

moral  achievements  of  Aristotle  and  of  Plato  ; 
yes,  and  of  all  the  philosophers  beside  who 
ever  wrote  in  any  language ;  and  the  result  of 
all  the  good  they  ever  did,  of  all  the  change 
they  ever  wrought  in  man's  believing  or  be- 
having, will  not  compare  for  a  moment  with 
the  contribution  which  this  fisherman  has 
made  to  the  best  wealth  of  the  world.  For 
the  sources  of  our  Christian  faith  are  plainly 
these :  first,  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ ;  secondly, 
the  interpretations  of  His  life.  The  story  of 
what  He  did  and  said  is  set  down  plainly  in 
the  first  three  gospels:  the  meaning  of  it  is 
declared  by  St.  John  and  by  St.  Paul :  by  St. 
Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  atonement,  and  by  St. 
John,  the  apostle  of  the  incarnation.  St. 
John  does  not  tell  the  Christmas  story :  his 
account  of  our  Lord  begins  with  the  baptism. 
But  it  is  from  him  chiefly  that  we  learn  the 
supreme  truth  with  which  the  Fourth  Gospel 
opens,  that  the  Word  was  God  and  was  made 
flesh.  He  it  was,  with  St.  Paul,  who  per- 
ceived God  in  Christ,  and  taught  men  so. 
How  did  he  do  it  ?  How  did  it  come  to  pass  ? 
How  did  John  of  Bethsaida,  fish  vender,  grow 
up  into  the  beloved  disciple,  St.  John  the 
Divine  ? 

The  father  of  John  was  Zebedee ;  his  mother 
was  Salome.     "We  are  not  told  much  about 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     219 

either  of  them :  of  his  father,  very  little,  in- 
deed. He  was  a  fisherman,  with  some  small 
means, — a  master  fisherman,  having  men  in 
his  employ.  He  seems  to  have  owned  a  house 
in  Jerusalem,  to  which  after  the  tragedy  of 
the  crucifixion,  John  took  the  Yirgin  Mother. 
His  wife,  probably  after  his  death,  is  said  to 
have  ministered  unto  Jesus  of  her  substance. 
It  is  plain,  however,  that  he  was  by  no  means 
rich :  at  least,  he  was  not  so  rich  but  that  he 
worked  with  his  hands,  pulling  at  oars  and 
sails  and  nets.  The  only  clear  look  we 
get  at  him  shows  him  with  his  sons  and  his 
hired  men,  a  sturdy,  sunburned  person,  with 
a  fisherman's  needle  in  his  hands,  busy  at  the 
common  task.  We  see  enough  to  know  that 
he  was  industrious  and  frugal,  of  a  practical 
habit,  not  impulsive,  not  given  to  dreaming  in 
the  daytime,  nor  enthusiastic,  nor  even  hos- 
pitable towards  new  ideas,  intent  upon  the 
lake  and  the  weather,  the  nets  and  the  fish, 
going  steadily  to  and  fro,  day  after  day,  be- 
tween his  house  and  his  boat. 

When  Jesus  came  and  called  his  two  sons, 
he  sat  silent,  not  offering  to  go  himself,  yet 
opposing  no  hindrance  to  their  going.  The 
sentence  in  the  gospel,  "  Then  came  to  Him 
the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  with  her 
sons,"  has  been  used  as  a  text  for  a  sermon  in- 


220      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

tended  for  men  who  do  not  go  to  church,  be- 
ginning, "  But  where  was  Zebedee  ?  "  Yarious 
reasons  are  assigned  for  Zebedee's  absence. 
It  is  altogether  likely  that  by  that  time  Zebe- 
dee was  dead.  Still,  the  fact  remains  that 
while  his  wife  was  deeply  interested  in  relig- 
ion, and  his  sons  devoted  themselves  to  it, 
Zebedee  himself  appears  to  have  gone  on 
about  his  ordinary  business.  He  stayed  at 
home,  and  attended  to  the  fishing. 

Salome,  it  is  thought,  was  a  sister  of  the 
mother  of  our  Lord :  for  St.  John  says  that  in 
the  group  of  women  by  the  cross  of  Jesus  was 
"His  mother's  sister,"  and  St.  Matthew,  de- 
scribing the  same  group,  speaks  of  the 
"mother  of  Zebedee's  children."  If  so,  she 
belonged  to  a  family  which  was  naturally 
religious,  and  spent  her  girlhood  in  the  com- 
pany of  one  whose  thoughts  and  words  and 
life  must  have  been  constantly  devout  and  up- 
lifted. That  she  afterwards  devoted  herself 
to  the  service  of  her  nephew,  and  attended 
Him  wherever  He  went  that  she  might  min- 
ister to  Him  not  only  gives  us  a  new  sight  of 
the  homely  domestic  relationships  of  the  life 
of  Jesus,  but  serves  also  to  bear  witness  to  her 
ardent  spirit.  There  was  probably  a  good 
deal  of  external  contrast  between  Zebedee  and 
Salome.  That  unlikeness  between  the  father 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     221 

and  the  mother,  one  saying  little,  the  other 
saying  much ;  one  appearing  to  pay  but  small 
heed  to  religion,  the  other  manifestly  devout, 
is  not  uncommon. 

Both  father  and  mother  reappear  in  John. 
He  was  no  leader,  like  Peter.  He  was  no 
speaker.  In  the  conference  at  Jerusalem  over 
the  questions  which  arose  out  of  Paul's  mis- 
sionary experiences  he  spoke  no  word, — a  quiet, 
silent  man,  like  his  father  Zebedee.  From  his 
mother  he  derived  his  religious  spirit  and  his 
depth  of  affection.  A  certain  swiftness  of 
temper,  a  strain  of  jealousy  in  his  affection,  a 
tendency  to  be  so  absorbed  in  a  present  pur- 
pose as  to  be  careless  of  the  rights  of  others, 
may  also  be  the  mother  in  the  son.  For  it  is 
not  only  by  the  direct  training  of  the  parents 
that  the  character  of  their  children  is  deter- 
mined. The  children  depend  less  on  what 
their  parents  do  and  say  than  on  what  their 
parents  are.  Character  goes  on  from  one  gen- 
eration to  another,  now  uplifted,  now  de- 
graded, but  inevitably  handed  down,  a  heri- 
tage of  benediction  or  of  malediction. 

It  is  not  likely  that  St.  John  went  much  to 
school.  It  is  certain  that  he  was  quite  un- 
trained in  the  rabbinical  philosophy  which 
constituted  what  was  then  accounted  educa- 
tion. He  learned  to  read,  and  he  read  much 


222      THE  HITMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

in  the  greatest  book  that  ever  was  written, — 
in  the  Bible.  That  he  had  an  eager  mind  is 
evident  in  all  that  we  know  about  his  life. 
But  beyond  the  most  elementary  sort  of  book- 
learning,  he  got  the  remainder,  and  the  greater 
part,  of  his  education  in  the  world. 

We  make  a  mistake  if  we  imagine  that  educa- 
tion consists  wholly,  or  chiefly,  in  acquaintance 
with  printed  pages,  in  the  friendship  of  books. 
He  is  best  educated  who  knows  the  world  in 
which  he  lives,  and  has  learned  to  look  with 
sympathy  and  understanding  into  the  faces  of 
his  fellow  men.  The  walls  of  the  study  im- 
prison the  conventional  scholar.  His  horizon  is 
bounded  by  his  books  and  pictures.  Supersti- 
tions, prejudices,  heresies,  narrownesses  of  va- 
rious kinds,  grow  in  the  brain  of  him  who  sits 
with  his  back  to  the  window  and  his  feet  to  the 
fire,  forever  reading.  John  the  fisherman,  busy 
with  his  work,  under  the  wide  sky,  on  the 
stormy  lake,  minding  the  net  and  the  sail, 
casting  for  a  draught,  counting  the  good  fish, 
occupied  with  his  traffic  along  the  wharves  of 
Bethsaida  and  in  the  fish  market  of  Jerusalem, 
learned  lessons  of  which  the  dim-eyed  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  studying  old  books,  were  alto- 
gether ignorant. 

One  would  have  easily  said, however,  that  this 
fisher  lad  had  but  a  poor  chance  at  the  prizes 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     223 

of  the  world.  Compare  him,  for  example,  with 
other  boys,  his  contemporaries  in  Bethsaida 
and  Capernaum,  born  in  homes  of  wealth  and 
leisure,  given  manifold  daily  privileges  of  edu- 
cation and  opportunity.  Out  of  all  these  lads 
who  have  their  residence  within  reach  of 
the  winds  which  blow  across  the  lake,  who  shall 
be  the  best  esteemed  ?  who  shall  be  known 
and  approved  by  the  most  people  ?  who  shall 
take  the  largest  place  in  the  general  life  ? 
Only  the  very  wise  would  have  pointed  to  this 
son  of  Zebedee. 

Wonderful,  this  subtle  difference  in  the 
destinies  of  men  !  Out  of  a  group  of  school- 
boys, out  of  the  clerks  in  an  office,  out  of  the 
unending  procession  in  the  street,  one  becomes 
a  scholar  and  enriches  the  world's  store  of 
profitable  knowledge,  or  a  merchant  whose 
ships  are  in  all  waters,  or  a  citizen  whose  public 
service  ennobles  the  community  in  which  he 
lives.  The  others  go  on  around  the  corner  into 
oblivion.  And  we  wonder  why  :  why  did  he 
succeed,  and  make  so  much  of  himself  ?  why 
did  his  companion  fail  ? 

In  the  case  of  John  the  fisherman  we  can 
see  one  of  the  reasons.  This  stout  lad  with 
the  tanned  cheeks  and  arms  has  a  strong  long- 
ing in  his  heart  to  know  the  best  and  be  the  best 
he  can.  That  is  the  beginning  of  difference. 


224      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

Others  are  content  to  take  the  daily  haul  of 
fish :  he  is  not  satisfied  with  that.  He  would 
have  not  only  fish  but  friends.  And  see  these 
friends — young  men  who  stand  erect,  with 
nothing  mean  about  them,  vigorous,  intelli- 
gent, thoughtful,  true.  James  is  his  brother, 
Andrew  and  Peter  are  their  partners,  Philip  is 
of  the  company,  and  perhaps  Nathaniel  of 
Cana.  These  are  John's  companions.  These, 
in  a  true  sense,  are  his  teachers ;  according  to 
Emerson's  saying,  "  Send  your  son  to  school 
and  the  boys  will  teach  him."  On  land  or 
water,  this  group  of  young  men  meet  every 
day,  and  their  lives  go  on  together  into  the 
greatest  work  that  was  ever  given  men  to  do. 
These  are  his  friends  :  such  friends  that  Jesus 
Christ,  choosing  only  twelve  apostles  out  of 
all  the  multitude  of  His  disciples,  takes  these 
six,  every  man  of  them. 

But  even  this  did  not  content  John.  He 
was  not  satisfied  even  with  this  society  of  con- 
genial and  helpful  companions.  He  was  in- 
tent on  improving  himself,  wanted  to  learn 
more  and  more,  and  had  an  insatiable  appetite 
for  truth, — for  the  truth  which  is  the  source  of 
strength.  When  he  heard  of  a  man  who  had 
a  message,  he  went  to  hear  him  tell  it.  It 
might  be  even  at  a  distance,  away  down  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  :  nevertheless,  when  there 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     225 

was  bad  weather  so  that  he  could  not  work,  or 
when  he  had  sold  his  fish  in  the  Jerusalem 
market  and  had  a  day  off  in  which  to  look 
about  him,  straight  he  would  betake  himself 
where  truth  was  taught.  Thus  it  was  that  he 
came  to  John  the  Baptist,  and  found  in  him  a 
better  teacher  than  he  had  ever  heard  in  the 
synagogues  of  Capernaum,  and  was  enrolled  as 
his  disciple.  And  then  one  day,  as  he  walked 
with  the  new  master,  evidently  a  favorite 
pupil,  there  passed  along  the  road  One  to 
whom  the  Baptist  called  attention  :  "  Behold, 
the  Lamb  of  God ! "  And  immediately  the 
fisherman  obeyed.  The  ardent  searcher  after 
truth  followed  the  new  master.  He  became 
acquainted  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Became 
acquainted  with  Him  !  He  was  His  neighbor 
and  His  cousin.  Yes,  but  now  of  a  sudden  he 
recognized  Him.  Thus  the  true  light  dawned 
within  his  soul. 

It  was  Jesus  of  Nazareth  who  lifted  this 
young  Galilean  fisherman  above  the  other  men 
of  his  generation.  It  was  the  entrance  of  this 
new  light  into  his  life  which  made  a  saint  of 
John.  But  John  was  on  the  watch  for  all  the 
good  that  he  could  find,  for  all  the  truth  that 
any  man  could  tell  him :  that  was  the  begin- 
ning of  it.  Without  that,  Jesus  might  have 
encountered  John  a  hundred  times,  and  never 


226      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

have  been  recognized.  That  distance  between 
sight  and  recognition  is  one  of  the  universal 
distinctions.  It  was  said  of  our  Lord  that  He 
came  unto  His  own,  and  His  own  received  Him 
not.  The  star  shone  in  the  Christmas  sky 
where  everybody  could  see  it,  but  the  wise 
men,  strangers  from  a  far  country,  were  the 
only  ones  who  followed  it.  The  lighted  lamp 
hung  at  the  door  of  the  stable  in  Bethlehem, 
and  many  men  and  women  passed,  their  long 
shadows  reaching  to  the  middle  of  the  road, 
their  minds  fixed  upon  their  errands  great  or 
small ;  all  these  passed  unheeding,  only  the 
shepherds  entered.  And  Jesus  went  about  the 
common  streets  day  after  day,  and  was  seen 
and  heard  familiarly  of  men  for  several  years, 
most  of  whom  looked  Him  in  the  face  and  did 
not  know  Him. 

That  happens  every  hour.  He  comes  again 
in  every  opportunity,  in  every  crisis  of  our  joy 
or  sorrow,  in  every  call  which  makes  itself 
heard  however  faintly  in  the  heart  of  man. 
And  there  is  still  the  same  benediction  in  His 
presence  that  there  was  in  Galilee ;  the  same 
strong  hand  is  held  out  still  to  lift  us  up  above 
the  lower  levels  ;  to-day  He  waits,  as  then,  to 
bless  us  ;  to-day  He  is  ready,  as  ever,  to  make 
saints  out  of  sinners.  As  many  as  receive 
Him,  to  them  gives  He  power  to  become  the 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     227 

sons  of  God.  But  some  are  blind  and  cannot 
see ;  some  will  not  see ;  to  some,  His  coming 
appears  so  commonplace,  so  simple  and  homely, 
that  they  do  not  believe  that  it  is  He.  They 
only  who  are  looking  patiently  and  eagerly,  as 
John  was,  for  knowledge,  for  betterment,  for 
blessing,  along  the  common  road,  recognize 
Him  and  gain  His  benediction. 

But  John  was  no  saint  yet.  He  had,  indeed, 
become  a  disciple  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
that  was  much,  but  it  was  only  the  beginning 
of  this  new  stage  of  his  spiritual  journey. 

It  is  encouraging  to  see  how  much  the  new 
disciple  had  to  learn.  We  grow  disheartened, 
failure  multiplies  upon  us,  spiritual  defeat  be- 
falls us  again  and  again,  the  ideal  seems  as- 
tronomically remote, — dim  in  the  immeasure- 
able,  even  inaccessible,  distance.  At  such 
times,  we  may  profitably  note  the  disadvan- 
tages of  temper  and  of  disposition  which  beset 
the  way  of  John  the  fisherman. 

Once  he  met  a  man  who  was  casting  out 
devils  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  yet  belonged 
not  to  the  apostolic  company.  John  forbade 
him  sharply.  He  forbade  him  to  do  good,  ir- 
regularly. Again,  when  the  people  of  a  village 
in  Samaria  refused  them  shelter,  John  desired 
that  fire  might  descend  from  heaven  and  burn 
up  the  inhospitable  people.  He  wanted  to 


228      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

have  them  struck  by  lightning.  Again,  near 
the  close  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  we  have  to 
remember  against  John  how  he  and  James 
got  their  mothers  to  ask  the  Master  for  the 
best  places  in  His  kingdom,  one  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  other  on  the  left ;  leaving  the 
lower  places  for  their  companions. 

These  instances  show  what  manner  of  man 
he  must  have  been  by  nature, — jealous,  some- 
what narrow-minded,  quick  of  temper,  incon- 
siderate of  the  feelings,  even  of  the  rights  of 
others,  selfish,  ambitious.  These  are  not  the 
adjectives  which  are  commonly  used  in  articles 
of  beatification :  they  are  not  a  good  descrip- 
tion of  a  saint.  Yet  this  was  true  of  the  be- 
loved disciple.  All  this,  little  by  little,  con- 
tending as  we  must,  he  put  down  and  under. 
Day  by  day,  fighting  against  that  which  was 
unchristian  in  him  and  overcoming,  he  in- 
creased in  the  favor  of  God. 

And  Jesus  loved  him.  He  who  came  to  live 
our  life,  beginning  it  in  pain  and  poverty  on  a 
chill  night,  cradled  in  a  manger,  so  that  He 
might  know  by  personal  experience  how  hard 
a  life  it  is  to  live  aright,  loved  John  in  the 
midst  of  his  faults.  Jesus  did  not  wait  till 
John  became  a  saint.  A  sinner,  like  the  rest 
of  us,  weak  in  temptation  as  we  are,  daily 
missing  his  ideal  as  we  do,  a  man  with  a  heart 


THE  DISCIPLE  WHOM  JESUS  LOVED.     229 

and  a  will  like  ours,  was  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved.  Every  striving  soul,  weighed 
down  under  a  burden  of  transgression  but 
struggling  to  get  free,  far  from  God  yet  trying 
to  draw  near,  sinning  but  with  bitterness  re- 
penting, is  loved  of  God  as  he  was. 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  KELIGIOK 

Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  never  thirst. — John  4 : 14. 

IT  is  a  promise  of  complete  satisfaction.  It 
is  also  a  statement  of  the  essential  purpose  of 
the  Christian  religion,  and  explains  why  we 
build  churches,  and  consecrate  them  in  the 
name  of  God  to  the  service  of  man.  The 
church  is  meant  to  be  a  fountain  of  water  on  a 
dusty  road,  in  a  thirsty  land.  It  is  for  the 
sake  of  the  greater  happiness  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

The  promise  appeals  to  all  of  us,  and  offers 
that  which  all  of  us  desire.  Some  of  the  first 
explorers  of  this  continent  were  seeking  for  a 
well  of  life  out  of  which  they  might  drink  and 
thereafter  be  young  forever  and  live  in  sweet 
content.  They  never  found  it,  but  they  never 
ceased  their  search  till  death  stopped  them; 
and  then  they  passed  the  quest  to  us.  Is  it  not 
the  object  of  our  deep  desire  ?  Is  it  not  the 
goal  of  our  best  hope  ?  We  would  be  happy : 
is  not  that  the  essential  formula  of  all  ambi- 
tion? 

Some,  it  is  true,  are  looking  for  the  well  of 

230 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION.        231 

joy  in  most  unlikely  places,  along  sandy 
beaches,  where  there  are  no  trees,  and  where 
the  water,  if  they  found  any,  would  not  be 
pleasant  to  the  taste.  They  are  disregarding 
all  the  guide-posts,  and  defying  the  moral  com- 
pass and  despising  all  experience.  One  would 
think,  for  example,  that  by  this  time  it  had 
been  made  sufficiently  plain  that  the  path  of 
appetite  leads  to  the  pit  of  destruction,  and 
not  to  happiness.  It  has  been  tried  often 
enough.  Nobody  ever  got  to  happiness  that 
way.  The  condition  of  that  road  and  what 
there  is  at  the  end  of  it,  are  advertised  in  the 
papers  every  day  in  the  week.  Nothing  else  is 
given  quite  such  prominence.  There  it  is 
every  day  in  big  black  capitals:  Appetite 
Avenue.  This  Way  to  the  Slough  of  Despond 
and  the  Great  Bad.  And  yet  there  is  a  con- 
tinual procession  of  seekers  after  happiness 
going  through  that  gate. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  be  the  road,  we  are 
all  in  search  of  happiness.  We  may  be  as  ig- 
norant of  moral  geography,  as  the  crusaders 
were  unacquainted  with  the  map  of  Europe. 
The  crusaders  thought  that  every  strange, 
large  town  must  be  Jerusalem.  They  looked 
expectantly  for  the  dome  of  the  temple  across 
the  fields  of  Germany.  They  hoped  to  see  the 
hill  of  Zion  from  the  Bavarian  Alps.  That 


232      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

shows  how  eager  they  were  to  reach  the  holy 
city.  It  is  a  symbol  of  our  common  life.  We 
are  all  looking  for  Jerusalem,  the  metropolis 
of  satisfaction.  Instinctively,  imperatively, 
following  the  summons  of  our  human  nature, 
we  are  all  trying  to  be  happy. 

Our  Lord  is  here  distinguishing  between  two 
kinds  of  happiness,  the  temporary  and  the 
permanent.  One  satisfies  for  a  time,  the  other 
continues  throughout  all  time.  "  Whosoever 
drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again  :  but 
whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  never  thirst." 

The  natural  water  of  the  well  is  a  symbol 
of  our  material  and  temporal  satisfactions.  It 
means  the  many  pleasant  things  about  us,  our 
houses  with  books  and  pictures  in  them,  the 
tables  at  which  we  sit  for  our  daily  meals,  our 
comforts  and  conveniences,  our  work,  our  in- 
terests, our  customary  pleasures,  our  attained 
ambitions.  It  means  the  happiness  which 
comes  from  the  sense  of  appreciation  and  from 
the  spirit  of  service. 

This  is  good  water :  it  quenches  thirst.  The 
Master  stood  beside  the  well  in  Samaria,  and 
looked  down  into  its  cool  depths,  and  seated 
Himself  on  its  stone  curb  in  the  shade  of  the 
trees,  and  said  to  the  woman  with  the  bucket, 
"Give  Me  to  drink."  When  He  took  the 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION.        233 

water  of  the  well  as  a  symbol  of  the  unsatis- 
fying joys,  He  blessed  them  by  that  word. 
He  did  not,  indeed,  give  them  the  best  place 
in  His  esteem,  but  He  gave  them  a  good  place. 
He  said  that  they  were  as  good  as  cold  water. 
He  said  that  the  happiness  which  comes  from 
appreciation  of  the  world  and  from  the  service 
of  our  neighbors,  is  as  refreshing  as  cold  water. 
He  knew  by  His  own  experience  how  true  a 
satisfaction  is  to  be  found  among  the  hills  and 
in  the  fields,  in  the  pages  of  great  books 
wherein  the  teachers  of  old  time  have  recorded 
their  adventures  in  the  discovery  of  truth,  and 
in  the  life  which  they  live  who  are  giving  their 
best  thought  and  strength  to  the  betterment 
of  the  community.  He  had  gone  along  these 
pleasant  ways,  and  He  knew  that  they  all  lead 
into  the  gardens  of  bliss,  into  the  realms  of 
pure  delight.  What  He  said  was  that  none  of 
these  common  satisfactions  satisfies  perma- 
nently. 

For  example,  the  people  of  an  academic  com- 
munity are  absorbingly  interested  in  books. 
They  find  in  the  quiet  of  a  library  a  haven  of 
peace  and  joy.  They  are  enthusiastically  en- 
gaged in  reading  and  in  writing  books.  Every- 
body in  the  street  has  a  book  under  his  arm. 
Some  of  them  feel  that  the  best  of  life  is  in  a 
book.  But  this  is  a  form  of  happiness  which  is 


234      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

closely  dependent  on  good  health,  and  on  a 
fair  amount  of  prosperity.  In  the  hour  of 
pain,  in  the  time  of  trouble,  books  are  unavail- 
ing. It  is  true  that  a  scholar  said,  after  a 
period  of  deep  distress,  "  Books  have  saved  my 
reason  and  my  life."  They  do  help.  They 
do  enable  the  reader  to  forget  for  a  mo- 
ment even  a  very  forlorn  condition.  But 
they  do  this  only  for  the  literary  people  :  and 
not  very  well,  even  for  them.  No,  the  book 
demands  the  sun.  The  night  blots  out  the 
page.  A  keen  disappointment,  a  fierce  pain, 
a  visitation  of  sorrow  closes  the  common  doors 
of  happiness.  The  melancholy  wind  comes 
howling  out  of  the  desert,  and  shut  they  go, 
all  the  customary  doors  into  the  house  of  hap- 
piness, while  we  stand  shivering  without. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  a  kind  of  consolation 
in  work.  The  wise  man  leaves  himself  as  little 
time  as  possible  for  sad  thoughts.  He  fills  his 
mind  with  other  matters.  Out  he  goes  from  the 
scene  of  his  bereavement,  from  the  associations 
of  his  sorrow,  and  plunges  into  work.  There  in 
the  midst  of  the  importunate  demands  of  new 
interests,  he  tries  to  forget.  How  does  he  suc- 
ceed ?  You  who  have  tried  it  know.  Work 
helps.  For  most  people  who  are  trying  to 
escape  from  grief,  it  helps  more  than  books. 
It  corrects  the  perspective  of  our  life.  It 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION.        235 

shows  us  that  our  personal  distress,  which 
looms  up  bigger  than  the  eternal  mountains, 
is  but  a  part  of  the  universal  landscape,  and 
belongs  among  the  inevitable  pains  of  human 
existence.  But  work  affords  no  lasting  com- 
fort. It  is  like  the  opiate  which  gives  the 
sick  man  an  hour  of  artificial  sleep.  Up  he 
wakes,  to  find  the  old  pain  waiting  for  him. 

That  is  the  truth  about  it.  Appreciation  of 
the  world  of  nature  and  of  letters,  and  active 
service  in  the  world  of  men,  are  blessed  re- 
sources while  they  last,  but  they  are  soon  ex- 
hausted. We  drink  of  the  water  of  the  well, 
and  for  the  moment  are  refreshed:  then  we 
thirst  again.  That  is  what  Jesus  said :  none 
of  these  things  permanently  satisfies. 

But  there  are  satisfied  souls.  There  are 
men  and  women  who  are  beautifully  and 
blessedly  and  amazingly  happy :  and  whose 
serenity  is  not  disturbed,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
by  any  of  the  ills  of  life. 

Kemember,  for  example,  the  complete  and 
uninterrupted  satisfaction  of  the  supreme  spirit- 
ual Master.  What  a  rich  life  He  lived  !  What 
a  plenitude  of  peace  and  joy  was  His  !  Who 
will  say,  Yes,  but  He  missed  so  much, — so 
much  that  Herod  had,  and  Pilate,  in  their 
palaces  ?  He  missed  nothing.  It  is  true  that 
He  was  poor ;  and  that  He  was  often  unap- 


236      THE  HUMAN  NATTJKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

predated,  misunderstood,  and  disappointed. 
It  is  true  that  He  passed  through  bitter  crises 
when  He  was  reviled  and  rejected :  and  that 
He  died  upon  the  cross.  But  we  make  a  great 
mistake  if  we  imagine  that  His  was  a  life  of 
sadness,  a  journey  on  the  Way  of  Weeping. 
No,  He  went  along  the  Path  of  Peace,  along 
the  sure  road  to  happiness,  wherein  the  way- 
farer sees  continually  before  him  the  shining 
steeples  of  the  City  of  Great  Joy.  Kemember 
that  day,  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  holy 
week — that  day  whose  anniversary,  for  all  we 
know,  we  may  be  at  this  moment  keeping — 
when  He  set  out  for  the  last  time  to  go  to 
Jerusalem.  He  walked  before  along  the 
country  road,  between  the  fields  of  early 
spring,  and  the  disciples  followed  after.  And 
as  they  looked  at  Him  their  hearts  were  filled 
with  great  astonishment :  they  were  "  amazed  " : 
so  quick  was  His  step,  so  high  His  head,  so 
jubilant  and  victorious  His  manner.  He  knew 
whither  He  went,  past  Gethsemane, — yes,  past 
Calvary, — into  His  true  native  land.  He  knew 
that  He  was  achieving  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness. 

Or  take  St.  Paul :  what  a  life  he  had  ;  what 
a  hard  life  and  at  the  same  time  what  a  happy 
life.  He  gave  himself  to  the  service  of  his 
fellow  men ;  and  they  stoned  him  in  the 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION.        237 

streets.  Even  that  might  easily  have  been  en- 
dured had  he  been  conscious  of  success.  Suc- 
cess softens  adversity.  A  man  can  stand  being 
stoned  if  he  knows  that  he  is  accomplishing 
his  purpose.  Even  stoning  may  be  cheerfully 
accepted  as  a  part  of  the  day's  work  of  the 
hero.  The  recompense  of  the  hero  is  success. 
But  St.  Paul  had  little  of  the  encouragement 
of  success.  We  know  now  that  he  was  laying 
the  strong  foundations  of  the  Christianity, 
even  of  the  civilization,  of  Europe.  We  know 
that  the  letters  which  he  wrote  are  read  to- 
day, Sunday  by  Sunday,  in  splendid  churches 
which  are  called  by  his  name.  But  of  all  this 
he  knew  nothing.  When  he  wrote  the  letters 
he  was  thinking  of  the  people  of  Corinth  or  of 
Home ;  never  for  a  moment  of  any  distant 
future  fame.  And  there  were  many  of  his 
contemporaries  who  thought  them  very  ob- 
jectionable letters.  When  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion stones,  he  was  quite  uncertain  whether 
they  would  stay  laid.  There  were  jealous 
brethren  following  hard  after  him  with  picks 
and  crowbars,  intent  on  prying  them  up.  Some 
of  them  they  did  pry  up.  St.  Paul  was  much 
better  acquainted  with  failure  than  he  was 
with  success. 

And  yet  he  was  happy,   continually   and 
abidingly  happy.     You  know  how  they  shut 


238      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OE  THE  SAINTS. 

him  up  in  prison, — Paul  and  Silas, — in  the 
foulest  dungeon  of  the  common  jail,  and  made 
their  feet  fast  in  the  stocks ;  and  how  he  and 
his  companion  sang  there  in  the  night.  No 
voice  of  song  had  been  heard  within  those 
walls  since  the  day  the  builders  left  them. 
But  Paul  and  Silas  could  not  help  singing. 
They  were  happy  and  they  showed  it :  happy 
in  their  high  mission,  happy  in  the  approval  of 
heaven,  happy  in  their  victory  over  them- 
selves. 

In  spite  of  all  the  hard  times  that  St.  Paul 
had,  he  kept  his  temper  and  his  courage  and 
the  serenity  of  his  soul.  In  addition  to  all  his 
other  troubles,  he  was  sick :  he  had  to  have  a 
doctor  go  with  him  on  his  journeys.  But  the 
sickness  made  no  difference.  That,  too,  he 
conquered.  It  is  plain  that  he  had  discovered 
the  supreme  secret. 

They  who  in  the  old  time  sought  the  well  of 
life  imagined  that  a  draught  of  its  water 
would  enable  them  to  live  forever.  But  the 
best  of  life  is  not  its  length :  it  is  not  the  chro- 
nological quantity  of  it.  Better  fifty  years  of 
our  own  unspeakably  interesting  age  than  all 
the  dull  centuries  of  Methuselah.  What  did 
the  patriarch  do  with  all  his  weary  years? 
He  was  born  at  the  beginning  of  them ;  in  the 
midst  of  them  he  was  married  and  had  chil- 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  KELIGION.        239 

dren;  and  at  the  end  he  died;  and  all  the 
dreary  intervening  spaces  are  absolutely  blank. 
He  has  the  reputation  of  having  been  the  old- 
est man  that  ever  lived, — the  emptiest  of  repu- 
tations. The  oldest  man,  and  nothing  to  show 
for  it !  Opportunity  interminably  prolonged, 
and  nothing  to  show  for  it !  Let  us  hope  that 
the  critics  may  be  able  to  show  that  the  fig- 
ures are  mistaken,  and  that  Methuselah  did  not, 
after  all,  live  so  preternaturally  long ;  for  as  the 
record  stands  it  is  a  thing  to  be  ashamed  of, — 
to  live  so  long  and  do  so  little ! 

Not  the  quantity  but  the  quality  of  life  is 
what  we  need :  not  a  well  whose  water  shall 
prolong  our  days,  but  one  whose  water  shall 
ennoble  and  enrich  them,  the  well  of  peace, 
the  well  of  joy,  the  well  in  whose  depths  tra- 
dition says  truth  dwells,  the  well  of  which 
Christ  spoke  when  He  said  that  whoever 
drank  of  it  should  thirst  no  more.  St.  Paul 
had  tasted  the  water  of  that  well. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  example  of  St. 
Paul  is  somewhat  remote  from  our  common 
life.  Paul  was  a  saint,  and  lived  a  long  time 
ago.  But  this  contrast  between  one's  circum- 
stances and  one's  state  of  mind  is  within  the 
range  of  our  own  observation.  It  is  a  con- 
temporary matter,  observable  to-day  on  our 
street.  Here  in  our  own  neighborhood  are 


240      THE  HUMAN  NATUKE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

happy  people,  persistently  and  triumphantly 
happy,  facing  disaster  and  mastering  it  and 
themselves.  Who  of  us  is  not  acquainted  with 
some  tranquil  soul,  on  whom  the  storms  of  life 
have  fiercely  beaten,  who  has  suffered  poverty 
or  pain  or  bereavement,  and  whose  nature 
is  keenly  sensitive  to  all  these  ills,  and  yet 
whose  eyes  are  bright  with  light  celestial  ? 
These  persons  verify  and  illustrate  the  paradox 
of  the  apostle  who  said  of  himself  and  his 
friends  that  they  were  "sorrowful  but  alway 
rejoicing."  We  do  not  need  to  go  back  to  the 
saints  of  the  legends  and  the  pictured  win- 
dows :  here  are  living  saints,  repeating  in  our 
presence  the  miracle  of  the  heavenly  life. 
Here  are  they  who  pursuing  happiness  have 
found  it. 

Where  have  they  found  it  ?  How  do  they 
preserve  their  courage,  their  strength,  their 
cheerfulness,  their  faith?  In  a  hard  world, 
wherein  they  are  experiencing  more  than  the 
common  lot  of  hardship,  how  do  they  man- 
age to  be  happy  ?  These  persons  have  found 
the  supreme  treasure.  Nobody,  I  suppose,  will 
question  that.  Nothing  can  be  better  than  this 
abiding  happiness.  Nothing  can  be  finer  than 
to  be  independent  of  the  changes  and  chances 
of  our  mortal  life.  Here  men  stand  on  the 
ultimate  eminence  of  human  achievement. 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  KELIGION.        241 

"We  look  up  to  these  calm  heights,  and  there 
behold  these  friends  and  neighbors,  in  the  light 
of  God.  How  did  they  get  there?  The 
answer  is  that  the  road  by  which  they  climbed 
up  out  of  the  mists  and  storms  is  the  road  of 
religion. 

Here  are  facts  which  anybody  may  verify : 
persons  on  beds  of  pain,  smiling ;  persons  walk- 
ing in  a  howling  tempest  of  adversity,  pelted 
as  they  go  by  poverty,  injustice,  ingratitude, 
failure  of  their  plans  and  hopes,  and  yet  pro- 
ceeding with  a  firm  step  and  a  cheerful  spirit, 
going  bravely  on  even  alone  with  clear  eyes 
and  a  good  courage.  And  back  of  it  all,  ac- 
counting for  it  all,  is  the  comfort  and  inspira- 
tion of  religion.  Ask  them,  and  they  will  tell 
you.  All  this  they  endure  and  do  through 
Christ  who  strengthens  them.  The  secret  of 
it,  the  heart  of  it,  is  religion.  They  have  an 
apprehension  of  God,  a  realization  of  God,  a 
consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God,  and  in 
consequence  of  it  they  are  strong  and  satisfied. 

There  are  two  good  reasons  why  religion 
satisfies :  because  it  enriches  life,  and  because 
it  interprets  life. 

It  enriches  life.  It  opens  the  way  into  a 
new  kind  of  joy.  He  who  has  "experienced 
religion,"  as  people  used  to  say,  he  who  has 
got  hold  of  this  elemental  truth,  knows 


242      THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

what  is  meant  in  the  Bible  by  a  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth.  There  they  are :  shining 
above  his  head,  solid  beneath  his  feet.  Thus 
Jesus  said  that  He  came  that  we  might  have 
life,  and  that  we  might  have  it  more  abun- 
dantly. That  is,  He  came  to  widen  out  the 
circle  of  appreciation.  The  effect  of  religion, 
thus  considered,  is  akin  with  the  effect  of  all 
progress ;  it  teaches  new  truth,  awakens  new 
aspirations,  develops  new  possibilities,  rounds 
out  more  completely  the  natural  life  of  man. 

Here,  for  example,  is  one  who  lives  beside 
a  country  road,  whose  interests  are  bounded, 
west  and  south  and  east  and  north,  by  the 
fences  of  his  farm.  He  does  not  respond  to 
the  invitations  of  books,  or  of  art,  or  of  music, 
or  even  of  nature  which  shines  for  him  and 
sings  for  him  in  his  narrow  acres.  How  little 
the  man  gets  from  the  beautiful  world  in 
which  he  lives.  Help  him,  then ;  teach  him ; 
make  him  hear  the  birds  sing  and  see  the  sun ; 
show  him  how  to  bring  the  homely  routine  of 
his  farm  into  relation  with  the  life  of  the  wide 
world ;  put  poetry  into  his  soul ;  let  him  read 
a  book  when  he  comes  in  from  the  field  and 
think  about  it  to-morrow  as  he  follows  the 
furrow.  It  is  plain  that  he  is  more  of  a  man. 
He  is  better  satisfied.  He  has  multiplied  his 
resources,  and  knows  better  what  to  do  with 


THE  SATISFACTION  OF  RELIGION.        243 

himself  when  it  rains,  and  is  happier  than  he 
was. 

Even  so,  he  is  an  incomplete  being.  A  man 
may  have  sound  sense  and  an  active  mind  and 
still  belong  to  the  defective  classes.  What 
lack  I  yet?  he  says.  The  answer  is  the 
awakening  of  his  soul.  He  has  been  brought 
into  a  living  consciousness  of  the  beautiful  and 
wonderful  world  about  him,  now  let  him  be- 
come aware  of  the  beautiful  and  wonderful 
world  above  him.  Let  him  hear  the  inaudible 
and  see  the  invisible.  Let  him  converse  with 
God.  He  is  a  new  man.  He  is  born  again : 
that  is  the  only  adequate  expression  of  it.  He 
enters  into  a  new  life.  A  while  ago,  if  he  had 
been  deprived  of  a  physical  pleasure  he  would 
have  felt  that  he  had  been  robbed  of  all  he 
had ;  and  he  would  have  been  right  about  it. 
He  was  a  poor  man.  They  might  not  have 
said  so  at  the  bank  ;  but  that  was  the  fact. 
With  all  his  possessions,  he  was  poor.  Now  he 
is  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  and  his 
wealth  is  of  the  kind  which  no  thief  can  steal. 

Religion  enriches  life :  it  also  interprets 
life.  This  is  its  supreme  and  characteristic 
quality.  "Then  thought  I  to  understand 
this,"  the  psalm  says,  "but  it  was  too  hard 
for  me ;  until  I  went  into  the  house  of 
God."  Even  religion  does  not  explain  life; 


244     THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

perhaps  because  we  do  not  know  enough  to 
receive  the  explanation.  It  does  not  make 
the  hard  world  plain.  It  does  not  write  the 
answer  at  the  end  of  the  problem.  Sorrow 
makes  its  inevitable  entrance  into  our  life,  and 
even  religion  does  not  tell  us  why.  What 
religion  does  is  to  assure  us  that  somehow  it 
is  right.  The  supreme  revelation  which  Jesus 
Christ  brought  with  Him  into  the  darkness  of 
human  perplexity  is  that  God  is  our  loving 
Father.  We  are  as  remote  from  comprehend- 
ing Him  as  the  small  child  is  remote  from  un- 
derstanding the  plans  of  his  parents.  But 
there  He  is ;  that  is  the  great  thing.  There 
out  of  sight;  or  rather,  here, — here  by  our 
side, — is  the  eternal  Father-God,  caring  for 
us,  loving  us,  bringing  good  out  of  ill  for  us, 
somehow  in  His  own  wise  way  working  for 
our  good.  "  Great  are  the  troubles  of  the 
righteous,  but  the  Lord  delivereth  him  out  of 
all."  Keligion  fills  men  with  that  conviction. 
It  makes  us  sure  of  God,  of  His  being,  of  His 
presence  and  His  power,  of  His  divine  love 
and  care.  The  world  is  our  Father's  house,  and 
all  that  happens  to  us  in  it,  whether  it  be  good  or 
ill,  belongs  to  His  wise  discipline  of  our  souls. 
Thus  we  drink  of  the  living  water  of  the 
celestial  well,  and  thirst  no  more.  We  enter 
into  the  blessed  satisfaction  of  religion. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFOENIA  LIBBAKY, 
BEEKELEY 


«-— 


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YB  22094 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


